Painters Online Logo

Login/register

Studio

Oil pastels

Welcome to the forum.

Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.

Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.

Hang on Studio Wall
Author
Message

Michael Robinson

  • New Member
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 2904
Posted
What do members think of oil pastels ? I try them occasionally, sometimes they are useful in figure drawing, provided you use a fairly big piece of paper. Their limitations are that when doing landscapes, the greens available (I use Caran d'Ache oil pastels) are quite limited in range and don't look convincing. The alternative is to overlay blues and yellows on the paper, although this is laborious and doesn't give the effect I want. And in hot weather they can be a bit sticky to handle. I'll keep trying them, although I think I can do better landscapes with oils!

Carole Kelly

  • New Member
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 12
Posted
I have been using oil pastels for a few months now and love their vibrancy and blending abilities. I have found usiNg a tiny amount of oil helps easier coverage. The polychromes pencils can help with more detailed work. I do like how robust the  paintings are when finished and the ability to store and move them around without the danger of smudging,as soft pastels do.
Me Painting

xxBillxx xxDowniexx

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 181
Posted
I started using oil pastels a couple of years ago (although my output has been small) and like every other medium it has its strengths and weaknesses. They don't blend nearly as well as chalk pastels. but they are less smudgeable, as Carole mentioned, and they give interesting effects with certain kinds of paper, which I take advantage of to create details on hillsides, etc. Paper imprinted to feel like canvas is great with oil pastels and I recommend anyone interested to try them together. I've never used pencils for fine details, as I find the sharp corner of a stick good enough for that and generally like to work within the limitations of traditional pastel sticks. The limited range of colours might be off-putting to some, but I see it as a challenge. Sometimes you can have too many colours to chose from! My only real complaint there is that I've never managed to find pale-coloured pastels. I could do with a few of them. 

Sylvia Evans

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 15279
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 4120
Posted
I like oil pastel very much, used here with inks.

Sylvia Evans

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 15279
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 4120
Posted
Sod pig....double posting again.

Edited
by Sylvia Evans

Me Painting

xxBillxx xxDowniexx

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 181
Posted
I like this very much. It's like lightning or a mountainside. Is it purely abstract or did you have an image in mind when you did it? I've only ever tried one abstract painting, and by the time I finished it was a landscape, so I stick to landscapes now.
Self Portrait

xxxx xxxxxx

  • Forum Expert
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 296
Posted
Never Tried Those.....
IMG_7097

Helen Martell

  • Respected User
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 485
Posted
I used to use oil pastels a lot (many) years ago. Posted a couple of my oldies in the gallery a few days ago because this topic reminded me of them. I used them like ‘when in primary school with wax crayons’ - covering one colour with another colour and then scraping patterns over it.. I must get them out again.

Edited
by Helen Martell