Home Forums Explore Media Oil Pastels Oil Pastel Talk New Guy Hello and a Question

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  • #459066
    Todd765
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        Hello all,
        I am new to the forums and new to oil pastels. Just as a brief intro, I live in the Midwest, US. A long time photography nerd but have recently decided to put the technology away somewhat and get back to my first artistic love as a teenager, drawing and sketching. I am later in my career, work from home now fulltime and my son is grown so I have more time for me stuff so it was a good time.
        Because in drawing I am very detail oriented I wanted to find a secondary medium to play with that was much more impressionistic and loose. I found soft pastels and was blown away at the beautiful blending you could get with them but have found the dust really bothers my throat and I really don’t want to wear a mask to do art :( So I tried some oil pastels and totally love them. I am just starting to figure them out but they are so fun and relaxing to use.

        Ok sorry after all that my question about oil pastels is this, I have spent alot of time looking at OP artist’s work just so I could see what was possible with them when used properly and again have been blown away by some of it. Just amazing, the artists so far that I REALLY like are ones that do landscapes that are very moody and soft. Almost a misty, impressionistic effect. One of them I believe is a contributor here, her website is Oil Pastels by Mary, I am sorry I do not know her full name. Another one is Rita DiCaprio. I will just name those two as an example what I am trying to figure out.

        In their landscape paintings everything is so soft and misty looking but yet still detailed enough that the viewer still gets the perfect amount of value information so the scene registers exactly as intended. I have watched everything I can find on blending techniques for OPs but I cannot find anything that really shows that effect.

        I hope this question makes some sense and isnt just a confusing mess but I am hesitant to post an example as I would hate to post a link to someone else’s art in case that is frowned upon.

        I think maybe it might come from scraping off and layering back values or going over with a lighter pastel but I am not sure and there just so little info out there for OPs.

        Sorry for the long winded post but I wanted to try and to explain the best I could. Thank you for taking the time to read and help point me in a direction if you can.

        Todd

        #659399

        A warm welcome to WC and to oil pastels, Todd!
        I do believe the effect you’re after is achieved by quite a few layers(very thin) of op’s and blending with a shaper. Mary spends a lot of time on each of her paintings using Mungyos and Senneliers on top of the Mungyos. She also finds scraping back helps her getting her final result.

        Christel

        #659401
        SarahY
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            Hello and welcome! :wave:

            So you like Tonalism? There are lots of examples of tonalist landscapes in the oil pastel studio, have a look through. I’m pretty sure that Mary is “Flycatcher10” on this forum, so perhaps if you search for Flycatcher10’s posts, you’ll find some WIPs that might answer some of your questions. As tuscanny says, she does layer and blend, often on a soft pastel or acrylic underpainting.

            Some examples:
            https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1183272 (WIP photos further down the page)
            https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1158612
            https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1354974
            https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1349168&page=2
            https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1369295 (not Flycatcher’s work, but a good description of technique in the OP)
            https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1391008 (again, not Flycatcher’s work, but I think it’s the kind of thing you’re looking for)

            There’s nothing more valuable than your own experimentation though! Different brands of oil pastel and different papers will have different effects, but textured surfaces will be your friends if you wish to layer and blend.

            Look forward to seeing the work you post! :thumbsup:

            http://www.shyeomans.co.uk
            \m/ neue deutsche härte \m/
            Nothing left but smoke and cellar, and a woman with a black umbrella...

            #659405
            Todd765
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                Thank you both for your replies. I am really do appreciate it.

                I will have a look through those threads, thank you very helpful!

                I am in the process of just getting to know the medium and how it reacts to different things. Its very interesting and relaxing actually. There is something really nice about being forced out of my comfort zone and just not having the option to worry about super detail stuff and focus more on just values and impression of details. Totally new thing for me.

                I currently have a set of Cray-Pas Expressionist OPs which were the first ones I picked up and I really like them and some of their colors though I find they don’t seem to layer as well I guess because they are a bit less pigmented maybe? I also picked up a set of Mungyo Gallery Artists OPs and I really like those alot, very easily layers over top of each, very opaque. Favorite so far. And I just got a smaller set of Van Gogh OPs yesterday from the UPS man but have not tried them yet :)

                Thanks again for your help and welcome. I will let you know how I am getting on once its more than just me making a mess like a monkey with a stick.

                #659406
                Todd765
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                    SarahY you mentioned I must be a fan of Tonalism Landscapes.

                    Just to add something here, today I actually went and had a look at some actual definitions of Tonalism landscapes in the oil painting world since there are so many more out there and I just wanted to make sure I understood what you meant and not just assume I did.

                    YES! 1000 times Yes! I am without a doubt a huge Tonalism fanboy when it comes to landscapes. Now if I can ever figure out how to get even remotely close with OPs then I will be a very happy person.

                    Thank you for helping define what I am looking for.

                    #659402
                    SarahY
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                        Excellent! :clap:

                        I am not a tonalist landscape painter, so I can’t help you all that much. I think, though, if I were to do a tonalist landscape, I would put the atmosphere colour down first and paint the objects into it.

                        This is the closest I have done:

                        I laid down rough patches of white, grey-violet, naples yellow, blue grey, and dark grey over the whole area and blended it all together. Then with dark grey and white I defined the clouds and the moon a little bit more, then finally painted trees and land with the black. This was entirely done with Senneliers, because they are so creamy soft, on Clairefontaine Pastelmat.

                        If I were to have a go at Whistler’s Nocturne in Blue and Silver:

                        I would lay down cold blue-grey over the whole sheet, and then work into it with blacks, cool yellows, and darker greys, and blend.

                        If I were to have a go at Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Red:

                        I would lay down cool and warm greys and browns over the whole sheet, then work into them with earth reds, light greys, and cool yellows, and blend.

                        The atmosphere is all important in Tonalism and should be the most predominant aspect of a tonalist painting, which is why I would cover the whole sheet with the atmostphere colours before working in the shapes and objects. Complementary and contrasting colours should be avoided in tonalism, as they will knock the painting out of a single, pervasive atmospheric hue. A tonalist palette is limted to a few colours and some greys and blacks. If the atmosphere in your planned painting was based on warm earth yellow, you’d need naples yellow, yellow ochre, a few warm browns, and black, and absolutely no cold greys, blues, or purples.

                        As I said, I am not a tonalist myself, but I hope this helps you little a bit!

                        http://www.shyeomans.co.uk
                        \m/ neue deutsche härte \m/
                        Nothing left but smoke and cellar, and a woman with a black umbrella...

                        #659407
                        Todd765
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                            Wow SarahY, thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of that. That is very kind of you and very very helpful. I learned more about what I would like to do reading your post then the last week of researching OPs online otherwise. :)

                            That is a great painting you posted there, you might not be a tonalist painter but you sure have a knack for it.

                            Really helpful, I can’t thank you enough.

                            #659403
                            SarahY
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                                Thank you! You’re welcome and I’m really glad I was able to help :clap:

                                Hoping you’ll post in the oil pastel studio and looking forward to seeing your work.

                                http://www.shyeomans.co.uk
                                \m/ neue deutsche härte \m/
                                Nothing left but smoke and cellar, and a woman with a black umbrella...

                                #659408
                                Todd765
                                Default

                                    Thank you, I will at some point once I make something that doesn’t look like a 4 year old with Crayola’s created it :)

                                    #659400

                                    Crayola is ok too, Todd. You might just use solvents to help blend though:D

                                    Christel

                                    #659409
                                    Todd765
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                                        Haha yes! That is a good idea.

                                        Seriously though my main issue right now is reprogramming my brain a bit.
                                        I was always very much into drawing and usually very detail oriented drawing so switching my mind to process things in more of an impressionistic mode is actually alot more of a challenge than one might think.

                                        That was what attracted me to the OPs in the first place. I have always loved oil paintings, especially the more impressionistic and now I guess tonalist ones so these little oil paint sticks are the perfect option without the mess and smell.
                                        Oil pastels is kind of a therapy medium for me in that it is forcing me out of my comfort zone to see values as the detail instead of the minute details that I can get with a pencil.

                                        #659404
                                        SarahY
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                                            I just happened across an excellent tutorial post by Flycatcher10 on painting the sea, thought I’d post a link here as I’m sure I read some elsewhere you’re interested in seascapes too?

                                            https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1044382

                                            http://www.shyeomans.co.uk
                                            \m/ neue deutsche härte \m/
                                            Nothing left but smoke and cellar, and a woman with a black umbrella...

                                            #659410
                                            Todd765
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                                                Oh that is really nice! Thank you SarahY, I really do appreciate that very much.

                                                That is amazing how detailed that ends up.

                                                #659411
                                                Mira
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                                                    Hi Todd and everyone!

                                                    What a useful thread for me! I am in a similar situation as a novice to OP and willing to paint landscapes. Until I found this forum I seriously doubted my choice of medium cause everything I came across on the internet as oil pastel example works was like a 4 year-old drawings. Okay, sometimes a 7-year-old’s! :D

                                                    I live in Russia and on the Russian internet I often found things like “what do you want, it’s just oil pastels, crayons for kids, student practice work and sketches, nothing serious…” Some said OP works great in mixed media which I didn’t want to do. Only here I found works by Mary and just like you, I was blown away and went like, wow, it’s exactly what I dream to paint! This is a way to go! So this forum was a great relief (that OP is NOT the wrong medium, just an unpopular one) and a HUGE source of inspiration! Thanks God I speak decent English and I have access to this precious info! ^__^

                                                    Btw, I can recommend you another outstanding artist. I searched for #oilpastelsociety on instagram and found Rich Arriagada (https://www.instagram.com/richarriagada/) – he regularly shares his new works and they all are delight to the eyes!

                                                    I love oil pastels and have created a blog about this medium. While the blog posts are in Russian, still I invite you to get inspired with various artists' beautiful OP paintings in my blog's gallery: https://oilpastelist.wordpress.com/gallery

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