Hot tulips...oil pastel heat technique

[Dyin]

I did this in an hour versus the normal days it takes me to do a realistic painting. I wanted to play and so I decided to try a print using hot OPs ( got the idea from an older Pastel Journal article). WARNING....if you try this use cheap OPs...it EATS them up in seconds....
I heated an oven pan on the stove top with a smooth piece of tin foil on the bottom. When it was good and hot I did a quick sketch and then lightly reheated it. Then I took a good heavy watercolor paper and set it carefully down and burnished the back of the paper with a large soup spoon, being extremely careful not to move the paper as it will smear.
It looked rough when I lifted it but then I went to my Sennelier OPs and shaded in some of the subject and filled in the background.
I really like the bold, fresh look of it even though it's so different from my normal work...what do you think?

[CarlyHardy]

I'm not sure I understood the process that you described, but it sounds interesting. I did something like this with crayola crayons once....melted them and poured them onto a canvas type fabric...then used wax paper to iron over them to melt out the excess wax.

Your painting has a fresh look about it that I like. Not too sure I'd have chosen the violet background...I think something to give more contrast to the tulips would have made them pop more. But that's a personal choice.
carly

[Mo.]

Hi Sue ~ I'm not absolutely sure I follow your technique, did you heat the pastels in the pan? Can you explain your technique in more detail? I feel I've missed something.

Your painting is bold and vibrant, but is this technique worthwhile? Is it just melting the OP's sorry to seem so dim, but maybe you can explain more.

cheers,
Mo.

[Dyin]

thanks for your comments...the colors seem to pop on the original...I liked the shock of the violet...sorry I was fuzzy on the instructions....You heat the tinfoil in the hot pan and then while it's still hot (leave the foil right in the hot pan) you draw with the OPs (or you can leave out the foil and just paint right on the pan, just a lot harder to clean up)....since it's hot the OPs go on super thick and gooey, then while it's still warm enough to be liquidy you put a clean paper on top of the tinfoil sketch and burnish the back of it so it picks up part of what you sketched....it may require heating the pan back up, if the OPs aren't still warm enough they won't transfer. It's a bit unpredictable...if you get too much on it doesn't look right, if it's not still hot it won't pick up right and if you move the paper it smears. The foil is just a throw away part of it after you've transfered it to paper and you can keep heating the foil in the pan and add more colors and do new pieces of paper too. Does that explain it any better?

[Cindy Aspden]

Sue! I love the colors and glad you had fun after that nasty(but incredible) ole lizard! Sounds like a exciting method. That's cool, I've never heard of pastels being done like this before. How old was that journal? Off the ark?(teehee!) Awesome job.

cindy

[Dyin]

Mo...is it worthwhile? Well, my first try was a while back and it came out horribly, but it's nice to know what different effects you can do with the medium...it's a lot like raku....the heat changes things...it's a bit messy, and like I said...wouldn't use expensive OPs....but it can be an interesting effect for part of a painting...you can't totally control it but that makes it exciting...and it was fun to do something that's out of my norm...my May project took me days of work with all the detail. I'd say it's worth playing with. A little practice makes for better results too...plus you can scrape to correct and add to it.

[Mo.]

Still trying to get my head around this one ~ tell me if I've got this wrong ~ From what you are saying, the initial sketch is done on the foil? ~ then heated in the pan? Am I right so far? ~ not sure what you mean by ~ 'paint right on the pan' ~ you mean paint on the actual pan This seems to be a bit of a messy technique. Where does the watercolour paper come into being?

Sorry Sue I'm finding this hard to grasp.



Mo.

editing here... is this the encaustic technique ot similar?

[Kathryn Wilson]

Are you familiar with the "monoprint" process - this sounds alot like it. You draw on the foil, which is hot and melts the OP's while you are drawing, then you take the foil and turn it upside down onto paper and burnishing onto the paper?

I voted in the poll - I have tried two OP's and they look very childish. I may just be too heavy-handed for OP's, or pastels or that matter. Think I might give acrylics a shot. Don't freak, just having spent all day in the studio using soft pastels, not sure how anything turned out (one for the pastel riot, one for the weekly pastel limited time project).

[Dyin]

I'm sure it's how I'm explaining it...sorry!

heat the pan with the foil in it
then...
do your (yes, messy) sketch directly on the hot foil
then
while it is still hot you transfer it to paper
don't let the paper move
you rub the back of the paper while it's on the tin foil to get it to transfer
and yes, you could paint directly on the pan too...foil is an easier clean up. Once the OPs cool they are hard again...but we are talking losing a quarter inch of OP on a single stroke while the pan is hot...it just plain melts it. But if you do it too thin then it doesn't transfer right...

[Dyin]

Kyle...that's IT!!!! Only instead of turning the foil upside down on the paper you put the paper on the foil and burnish/rub the back of it....
Won't freak out...we all have to find our perfect medium...I just happen to like the OPs...I think they and I can grow together lol!

[Mikki Petersen]

What a sizzler! Those colors just grab you and shake you up. I'm fascinated by the technique. I have a bunch of cheap oil pastels to get rid of, maybe I'm try this melt technique. It's sort of like a reverse encaustic. I just recently was introduced to encaustic and have had great fun playing around. This sounds like a good creative warm-up too. Thanks for sharing.

[E-J]

Dyin

I answered your poll but the techniques I've tried with oil pastels have been very basic so far ... ie, using them over an acrylic underpainting and moving the colour with Shapers or a brush ...
tried blending with linseed oil but it seemed to stay very wet ... I certainly haven't done anything as unusual as this! It took a while for me to understand the process you were describing but it sounds exciting. I guess you could prepare the paper beforehand if you wanted by painting in the background colours first?

[Dyin]

Thanks Impete! I was pretty excited by the colors too...
EJ...you could try...but it's not entirely controlable...Since the OPs are in a liquid state they tend to run or spread a little. And I'm not sure if they wouldn't melt what's already on the paper...but that's why I'm experimenting...you'll have to try it a couple times to get some good results, would love to see what someone else can do with it....

[Dima]

If life is a box of oil pastels we must heat them up every now and then.

Nice effect and wonderfully bright colours, Dyin.
And great you are trying out new techniques.
Seems like a bit of a complicated encaustic technique you used here, though.

I have been contemplating trying my hand at encaustic techniques with oil pastels.
What I would like to find is a flat square or rectangular surface with an adjustable heat source and I thought there might be appliances for grilling meat that would do, but I only found the ones with the ribbed surfaces in the shops.
I did an experiment holding a piece of synthetic canvas at the back/bottom of an iron heater so I could control the amount of heat and applying the oilpastels on it worked great.
It did eat the pastels a bit depending on the amount of pressure applied, but not nearly as much as you describe.
Still I would not use my Senneliers for first experiments.

Does anyone know of apparatus for grilling/baking with a totally flat metal surface and adjustable heat?
Or does anyone have alternative ideas for encaustic techniques?
This could open up a lot of new possibilities for painting with oilpastels and waxcrayons.

Dick

[Dyin]

Thanks Dima...it was fun, but I'd like to find another method too. I'm thinking about what a hot hair dryer will do...you might try a specialty cooking store for a flat grill...let us know if you come up with anything....