Show Beast

Interesting - the last time I used oil pastels, they were a Japanese brand called Sakura/Guitar: put me off more than a bit. I discovered Sennelier, by inheriting a very old box of them - and they'd oxidized badly. So I've never really given them a fair chance. But I like the immediacy of this, and the cattle show/country show is very familiar to me, living on the Isle of Wight - I do like your strong colours, in which oil pastels excel, though found subtlety extremely hard to achieve. I note you've moved on to Gouache, which is strong but SO much easier: do you still use oil pastel? Got any tips?

Really like this - a lot of character on show!

Like this Frank

Thanks Tim and Heather. Robert, I have actually had the Mungyo pastels for quite a few years and after initially having a go with them, like you I was put off. Watching how other artists use oil pastels re-kindled my interest and I splashed out on some Neocolor 1, which turned out to be quite a hard pastel in use. The Neopastel tin of 24 were from a charity, who were asking £2 for them but knowing how expensive theses are, I gave them £5! The best tip I can give is that you have to build up the colours with layering, using the hard type as a base, then blending the softer ones on top as you can't mis the exact colour you want like paint. Also I work jigsaw fashion from top left (being right handed) so that I don't smudge the work with my hands. I have some process shots on my Instagram page @_frankb10

A brilliant achievement with such a difficult medium. Love the fresh liveliness here and your energetic palette Frank.