Home Forums Explore Media Oil Pastels Oil Pastel Library Oil Pastel Challenges March 2012 Oil Pastel Challenge

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  • #989414
    halthepainter
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        All you oil pastel artists please join in on our March Challenge. I look forward to seeing your work. Feel free to crop, modify, or use any of the references in anyway you choose. All the photos are mine and there are no copyright issues.

        We are happy to have all skill levels join in.

        Boardwalk through the Great Bay Salt Marsh.

        Bankok, Water Market.

        Roses from the Historic Fuller Gardens, North Hampton, NH.

        Rose at the Fuller Gardens

        Gurtrude and Heathcliff. This mated pair would fly from the fresh water ponds to the salt, tidal pools and marshes during the winters.

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        #1156769
        halthepainter
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            Additional References:

            Japanese soapstone Sculpture. I suggest painting it as a scupltural still life. Or…. use it as a reference to create an imaginary landscape.

            Art neauveau well at the Fuller Gardens in Nort Hampton, NH. I’ve actually painted this a number of times, plein air.

            Kittery Point, Maine…. looking out into Portsmouth Harbor, the historic relic rescue station in the far distance.

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            #1156742
            Pat Isaac
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                Great photos, Hal. Thanks for hosting this month. Love those trees in the marsh.

                Pat

                #1156856
                Mary
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                    I love that blue and gold water with the swans.

                    Mary Thompson
                    http://www.wildpinesstudio.net

                    Constructive Criticism Always Welcome.

                    #1156827
                    oldrockchick
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                        It’s that well again!!!!!!!

                        Nice that they are here early so I can try out my new neos and organisation.

                        #1156770
                        halthepainter
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                            I love that well. It’s from a different angle.

                            Monet had his haystacks, I have my well.:D

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                            #1156862
                            talinka
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                                I’m gonna be brave and try the Great Bay Salt Marsh.
                                There, I said it so there’s no backing down now…. Yikes… Did I mention I suck at drawing trees?

                                Tali

                                #1156771
                                halthepainter
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                                    Tali as one of my mentors said “draw what you see, not what your preconceiced idea of what makes a tree” :thumbsup:

                                    I intend to try the “Water Market” loosely. It will be a real stretch for me but I plan to try it without a detailed drawing. I’ll just loosely locate points and go from there. Of course there is a strong possibility no one will ever see the painting. :o

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                                    #1156869
                                    CarolBe
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                                        Here is my picture of the rose. It’s sad, but here it is. I’ve never tried anything like this before, I have NO idea how to get sharp edges with OP. Here it is anyway.

                                        Criticism welcome.
                                        Carol

                                        #1156743
                                        Pat Isaac
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                                            I would love to see this larger. any chance of making a larger image?

                                            Pat

                                            #1156772
                                            halthepainter
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                                                Carol, it’s not sad at all. It has a halo effect that makes it a delightful decorative piece.

                                                You’re not done yet: Tell us the type paper, brand of OPs and size of your image and if you’ve used any special techniques such as solvents and anything else that might be instructive.

                                                As far as sharp edges: other artists here will have their individual techniques. I will reapply the adjoining color over a ragged edge to sharpen it. I also use a paper tortillion along a hard edge to rub the colors in and better define an edge. You might also scrap away color with an exacto knife or razor blade and reapply the adjoining color. With soft pastels, I would break a stick to get a sharp edge with which I would then create a fine line or sharp edge. I haven’t tried this yet with oil pastels because they get pretty mushy pretty fast but you could cut one with a razor blade to create a hard edge. I hate wasting pastels and will go to herculean efforts to aviod cutting an oil pastel though.

                                                So far, I think working with tortillions have been effective for me to achieve the sharp edges that I’ve needed.

                                                Of course you know that in watercolor, soft edges are highly valued.

                                                Sorry to get so wordy. I like your painting and thank you for volunteering to host a monthly challenge. :thumbsup: :heart:

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                                                #1156744
                                                Pat Isaac
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                                                    Hal has given you some good advice, Carol. I use clay shapers for my edges and sometimes the tortillions. I also use oil based colored pencils for very fine detail.

                                                    Pat

                                                    #1156870
                                                    CarolBe
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                                                        Here it is a little bigger. I find I like them more the farther away I get.

                                                        I used Canson Mi Tenes (sp?) pastel paper (only pastel paper I could find at Michaels). I used Sens and NeoPastels. I only had one red and it was MUSHY, I’m almost out of white now too! When I ordered my colors I was thinking mostly of using them for pictures with water and bought mostly blues and more earthy tones. I didn’t use any solvents either.
                                                        I’m hoping to order a whole set of NeoPastels and some more Sens when our taxes come in. I didn’t like the Sens at first, but I had gotten a transparent blue and I really don’t like that one very much, the others are growing on me though. I LOVE the couple Holbeins I got, but they are more expensive than I can afford right now.

                                                        #1156773
                                                        halthepainter
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                                                            Carol, I hope you’ll forgive my butting in but I really wanted to see a larger image of your work.

                                                            Just my personal taste, I like strong dramatic value shifts and would make some of the dark area of your leaves and petals several values darker.

                                                            Your light source seems to be face on and if you made it come from one side or the other you could get stronger shading and more clearly model and shape your stems, leaves and petals. Also if the light source were face on, the leaf in front of the rose would be casting a shadow.

                                                            Just alternate ideas.

                                                            OOPS we were posting at the same time.

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                                                            #1156871
                                                            CarolBe
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                                                                :eek: Would you believe it never occurred to me to even think about the light source!? I tried doing that with the last one I did (the lighthouse), but not here! Thank you Hal! I’ll try and do some more work with it tomorrow when my kids are napping, that seems to be my only “painting” time I get right now.

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