Sunburst

I like this. It's very bold and eye catching.Lovely cloud and sunrays?

Yes agree with Avril. Fresh feeling with plenty of life but a relatively minimum compostion. super

I think the sky takes the biscuit in this painting, draws the eye. Lovely formation Steve.

Either oil pastels have come a hugely long way since I struggled with the Sakura brand a good few donkeys' years ago, or you are a genius who could paint with a stick of woad steeped in macerated stinging nettles. How did you get them to blend like this? Your painting is very good indeed anyway, but accomplished in oil pastel ... how?

Thanks Avril, Angela and Carole, your nice comments are a boost. Robert you made me laugh out loud, it's been years since i painted with sticks and nettles, oil pastels are much easier haha. In truth the secret is that in this media it is definitely a case of you get what you pay for, the cheaper student quality brands are instruments of torture leaving crumbs of colour that streak across your work when you try to brush them away. Neopastels are much softer and produce few or no crumbs and Sennelier (the originals designed for picasso) are softer still with what is accurately described as the texture of lipstick. Blending these is not a problem in fact the biggest problem is over blending when trying to layer especially if in a warm room as everything can become a greasy mess. The down side is that their price is often over double the student quality pastels. If you want to give them another go my fave student range is the pentels....dirt cheap but surprisingly good working qualities....some colours do 'Crumb' but they are soft enough to push into the surface - being student quality though i presume they are not lightfast enough for serious works. I got a 48 set for under a tenner....great for sketching......Steve

Great sky painting, really like this Steve.

love this steve. i love the contrast between light and dark. Great picture. !

Really good. I love the luminance...

super burst of sunlight coming from the cloud, wonderful painting.

Hiya steve. you are not far off being the only person i know who works in oil pastels. I too use only sennelier and yes, it is a problem during the summer months when the sticks are very soft and greasy. Do you find that certain colours are more greasy than others and take longer to dry - tho of course they don't really dry at all. i enjoyed your gallery - yours is well organised - not like mine.

Great. Do you blend wet or dry?

Great. Do you blend wet or dry (smudge)?

sorry for the double post.