"Sunrise with Coffee and PJ's"

At around 7:30 this morning I was making my coffee in the studio. My studio looks out over fields and faces east, so I usually get great views of the sunrise. I grabbed an 8x10" sketchbook and my oil pastels and did a quick little landscape while still in my pajamas! Hey you gotta do it when you can and gorgeous sunrises don't stick around!

I first quickly laid on light greys for the clouds shapes because the wind moved them so fast. Then I built up the greys and blues and added light blue for the light parts of the sky. With oil pastels it's hard to get a very light blue so you have to add lots of white. I put the blue on very light then rub white on top and smear it with my fingertips. The heavier you put oil pastels on, the nicer it is to blend, but you have to plan ahead. It's not like blending paints, you can't really go back and alter colors very much. After the sun broke through the clouds it was too hard to look at, so I worked on the ground and trees to finish it.
I scanned the colors I used for you to see them alone.