In this short How To Blog, I want to point out the reasons why anyone wanting to be arty, creative and expressive with colour should consider trying oil pastels.
Oil Pastels are a great art medium that is often overlooked because many people associate crayon type art mediums with children's artworks and school projects.
Oil Pastels are basically pigment sticks of waxy, creamy colour that you can use like a crayon onto a variety of surfaces from canvas boards to watercolour paper. The waxy/creamy consistency varies with brands and you can start with a cheap box of oil pastels from your local discount store. The cheap varieties do not blend like the artist quality, expensive brands from the Art shop, but if you just want to get a feel for them, then they are completely adequate to experiment with.
The ones I have used to create my Abstract Tree oil pastel painting were not the expensive artist ones, they were medium quality oil pastels with a reasonably creamy consistency.
To follow this Blog How To, you will need to have ready:
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| My Studio Work Space |
A box of oil pastels with a good range of bright colours.
Some black matte acrylic paint, a large paint brush and a very small detailer brush.
A Canvas Board (Canvas Boards are canvas glued onto a solid cardboard backing). These are cheap and great to use with pastels because you can press hard onto the board to get thick coverage of colour and blending.
Lots of newspaper to put under your artwork on a table and paper towels. Oil pastels are MESSY! So work somewhere where you can clean up easily.
Some Matt Spray sealer from an art supplies store. Oil pastels are messy and smudge very easily so when you have completed the painting you will want to seal it. Please note that any pastel, (oil pastels & chalk pastels too) never really dry out completely so they are very fragile and easily damaged. The spray sealer will help protect your work, but it can still be damaged if touched, scratched etc. This is one downside to pastels.
Step One
Paint your Canvas Board with the black paint. Two even coats is enough. I love the effect of oil pastels over a black background. The colours really 'pop' and you get the black canvas grain coming through behind the colour.
Step Two
Make sure that the black paint is completely dry before proceeding. Looking at my Abstract Tree as
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| Progress photo - guide lines are in and colour started |
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a guide and using a light coloured pastel (say light grey) draw out the tree shape onto the canvas board. Press LIGHTLY and let the tree branches flow in arched lines rather than straight lines.
Let the branches touch each-other or even intersect. You are laying down the basic shapes at this stage and if you put a branch in the wrong place DON'T PANIC! you can change this as you go along.
Step Three
Choose some colours to start painting in your tree. Again look at my completed painting as a guide to colour blending. Pick colours that are harmonious together such as:
Oranges, reds and yellows
Blues and purples
Greens and blues
White is used quite a lot in this painting as a blending colour. White blended with any bright colour will produce different tones of the same colour hue. If you have problems getting several colours to blend, add some white and it will help the blending process.
So start with a selection of several harmonious colours and lay the oil pastels down in each 'section' where the tree branches form a shape. You can go over the shape with layers of colour numerous times until you get the right blend and you will need to use your fingers in the oil pastels to help this process.
TIP: Constantly wipe the ends of your oil pastels with the paper towel after you have used them. Oil pastels will pick up other coloured pastels and if you don't clean them as you go, you will create a streaky mess of unwanted colours. Same goes for your fingers when blending, clean them often during the painting process.
As you work your way around the painting, add different colour groups as I have to create vibrancy and visual interest.
Alternatively, if you want to create this abstract tree in a limited colour palette (e.g. you pick just three harmonious colours or one colour plus white for tones) you can do this by just repeating the colours you have chosen all over the painting.
You will find that some of the oil pastel will crumble and sit on the surface of the painting as you work so every so often just tip the canvas board on its side and tap off the excess pastel onto the newspaper underneath your work area.
Have FUN seeing how your colours blend and interact and every now and then, stop and just look at your painting from a distance to see how the coloured sections are looking next to each other and to view the overall balance of colours in your painting is to your liking.
TIP: If you blend several colours and they don't work, look wrong or go muddy you can just use a butter knife to scrape off the oil pastel from that section and start again :)
Step Four
When you are happy with your blending and your colours and the whole painting is finished, except for the black tree trunk and the branches, leave the oil pastel painting to 'set' maybe for a day or two.
As I mentioned, oil pastels never really dry completely but they will set over time. Some of my previous oil pastel paintings are dry to touch after a year or two, but they will always be more fragile than a standard acrylic paint artwork.
Step Five
Get out your black acrylic paint again. Now to finish off your painting you need to go over the Tree trunk and branches carefully with your black paint and brushes. Use the bigger paint brush to fill in the trunk and then use the detailer small brush for the finer lines and branches. Acrylic paint will go over the oil pastel, so don't worry if you have not left a perfect branch line between the oil pastel sections.
Just follow the section boarders and put all the branches in place completely one side of the tree and then the other so that you do not smudge the work. Allow to dry.
The last little detail I used and you can also use if you want to, is that I decided to add some extra branches to my abstract tree painting for visual interest.
If you want to do the same, don't go crazy with extra branches, just a few will do the trick. End the branch with a fine line, or you could add your own ideas such as a few leaves, a bird on a branch or whatever takes your fancy.
YAY you are done :) The only thing left to do is wait a day or two and then spray with the matte sealer spray. I would recommend using at least three thin coats of sealer spray, waiting at least three hours between sprays.
TIP: To display your painting you can frame it without the glass and hang on the wall or use a display easel or plate display stand.
I hope you have enjoyed following this How To Blog and that it has inspired you to work with oil pastels in your art projects.
Here are some of my other Oil Pastel Paintings...
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| 'Chevron' ~ used as an art design in my cushion range |
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| 'Two Trees' ~ oil pastel and acrylic paint |
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| 'Midnight' in the Garden ~ oil pastel and acrylic paint |
