West Kirby from the Wall

I would never have guessed that this was oil pastel, you have great control over it, and again your textured ground is most effective.

thanks for your remarks. Yes, i do paint the mountboard with acrylic to add texture before using the oil pastels

hi Patricia, thanks for your comment on my sunburst picture, it is nice to see other works in oil pastel, i think it is a much under-rated medium....no one would buy childrens grade watercolour and expect to paint a masterpiece but people try the student grade oil pastels and write it off as a bad job. personally i find the Senneliers a bit too soft for how i like to work so for me i use Erengi's (a quite firm but artist grade and lightfast oil pastel only available from the US) and caran d'ache neopastels, then use the Senns as top layer final touches. and yes there is definitely a variation in softness within the Sennelier range, but they have such a great range of neutral greys i still wouldn't be without them . I would love to get hold of a full set of Holbeins but again they aren't available in the UK .... had a look round your gallery and i love what you are doing with them.... i tried acrylic underpainting myself but found the surface became too slick and colour moved around too easily when i finger blended. i know West Kirby and Hoy Lake well....is this vantange from the marina wall?....... Steve