Weekly OP Sketch Thread Jan 5-11

lacey sprocket · #1 01-05-2009, 01:00 PM

This sketch thread is open to all Oil Pastelists. You are invited to share any sketching you've been doing this week, be it detailed ones, quick ones, ideas for paintings or value studies. Basically, just show us what you're working on! There is NO time limit, so knock yourselves out!

It would be great if you could share with us the paper and pastels you are using, as well as the size of your sketch. We do love the details!

Sorry for being out of touch! I ended up going up to Sacramento to see a friend who has be very ill as soon as I got back from vacation and pretty much forgot a lot of stuff. He's doing much better now!

Thanks a million to all of the wonderful folks here who stepped up to host while I was away!

Happy New Year!

**Pat Isaac** · #2 01-05-2009, 01:13 PM

Welcome back, Lacey. Hope you had a great vacation.

Pat

robertsloan2 · #3 01-05-2009, 01:21 PM

Hi Lacey! Welcome back. We missed you but kept sketching all the time you were gone, so now I've got to come up with something new here. Sorry to hear about your friend, hope he's getting over it or gotten used to it (sometimes it can turn out to be chronic.)

Seeing you again inspired me to flip open my sketchbook. I found some ballpoint sketches of my cat that I did back on the 29th of December, so working from one of those life sketches with Neopastels, I drew this sketch of my cat, Ari, looking away. A pose he took as soon as I started drawing him, I should mention. He's not always keen on posing.

These are the sketches I worked from that were in my smaller sketchbook:

I liked the bottom one especially for how it got his body proportions and ear shape and cheek shape, the way his curved knees stick up above his back when he's laying down like that. I think it's his knee. Might be his thigh muscles. That part of his leg. If I draw my cat enough times fast, maybe I can do a good portrait of him without relying on photos.

**Pat Isaac** · #4 01-05-2009, 01:34 PM

Missed that, glad to hear that your friend is doing better now.
That's a great sketch, Robert. You have the cat gesture...

Pat

robertsloan2 · #5 01-05-2009, 01:37 PM

Thanks! Gesture is the only way I can draw that cat from life, unless I luck and I'm very quiet while doing Sleeping Flat Cat from the right vantage point.

**Scarefishcrow** · #6 01-05-2009, 04:22 PM

Welcome back Lacey. We missed you! Hope all is well except for you friends illness. Thanks for doing this.

Very good sketches, Robert. With all that fur it can be hard to tell what part is where!

Bill

robertsloan2 · #7 01-05-2009, 07:42 PM

Yeah, he has a lot of fur! It's very soft too, he still has kitten-soft fur at eight years old. Nearly nine, his birthday's in April. He had all his legs pulled in under him when I drew him, his points make it easy to see where his legs are when he's puddling.

One of these times I'll develop some of these sketches to the point I can do a serious painting of him. I will probably have to combine photos, life drawing and color swatches to really capture his handsome looks because he hates having his picture taken or being sketched. I probably bugged him too much with it when he was a kitten.

I also sketched for an oil pastel painting I'm doing from a photo Wendell sent me. It's beautiful, all of them are wonderful. So the experiment was putting Colourfix primer on paper that isn't watercolor paper because I had exactly the right color of Canson mi-Tientes for the water background. It's showing some ripples but seemed dry. It looks a little less rippled now as it's dangling from my clipboard, maybe it is just taking forever to dry as opposed to watercolor paper drying.

I can hope. Or I might just mist the back and stick it on a paper towel under a thick stack of books before I start painting.

I did the priming yesterday and it was a lot more rippled when it was wet. Maybe it'll flatten with another day.

**Scarefishcrow** · #8 01-05-2009, 08:37 PM

Interesting, Robert. Do you mean the primer is still moist to the touch??

How long does it normally take to dry? I assume it is an acrylic based primer and I figured it would dry fairly quickly like acrylic paints. Is that not the case? I haven't had a chance to use this yet.

The question to ask would be what weights of wc paper have you used this on? The Canson Mi-Tientes is, I believe, 98lb wt. Any watercolor paper below 140lb I always read needed to be stretched and taped to prevent buckling.

Was this taped with gummed tape all around before you primed it or simply free? If free, have you tried low weight wc papers without stretching and taping and not gotten the buckling?

I guess if I had to guess what would happen in this scenario I would expect light weight paper like this to buckle with any type f wet media since it is specifically designed for dry media only as I understand it. (OP would behave as a dry medium on this I would expect).

Interesting to see what happens.

Bill

robertsloan2 · #9 01-05-2009, 09:05 PM

I taped the edges before priming in order to get clean edges to the painting when I'm done. You're right, it's lighter weight than the watercolor paper I've been using.

It dries to the touch pretty fast like acrylic paint, but the cockling on watercolor paper lasts till the day after usually. This stayed a little cockled the day after, so I moistened the back and put it on top of paper towels under a very heavy book (my ACEO album). Hopefully by tomorrow it'll dry out again and flatten completely.

I tried the primer in my sketchbook once and got it to dry flat, but it cockled badly before it dried. That paper was lighter weight than Canson. So we'll see how it works when I take it out again tomorrow.

I've used OP dry on Canson mi-Tientes with no trouble, but I wanted to use the primer over it to seal the surface so that if I wanted to I could use wash effects. If it dries flat with the pressing and paper towels, then I'll know it's a good technique.

I may try it on some boards next, on foam board since I have so much archival foam board. Maybe with a wash to tint the background and then a sketch first, that is the advantage when I'm using the primer.

**Scarefishcrow** · #10 01-05-2009, 09:55 PM

Perhaps you should try gluing the Canson securely to some of your foam board and then apply the primer to it if you want the paper surface.

robertsloan2 · #11 01-05-2009, 11:28 PM

That's a thought if this doesn't flatten out. Or if I just get too annoyed at waiting so long for it to dry. I'll see what weighing it down like that does first though, since this one's already prepared and already been misted and pressed.

**Pat Isaac** · #12 01-06-2009, 09:00 AM

I like the sketch of your new painting. It has often been my experience that Canson ripples when exposed to dampness and water, making it hard to flatten out. Let me know if you succeed. Good to know.

Pat

Yusuke · #13 01-06-2009, 12:49 PM

Welcome back, Lacey. Thanks for hosting.

Herb,
Thanks for the comment and the photograph of your light box. Looking forward to seeing the works produced using the light box.

Bill, Pat, Shirl, Robert,
Thanks for the comment on my sketches last week!

Xina,
Thanks also for answering to my questions. Ah, watersoluble crayons! I've got the 48 colour set of Neocolor II but they are a bit hard for me to handle... I'll try them later.

Robert,
Your cat drawings are really nice. I like the strokes against his hair. Looking forward to the next step of a duck.

I have just sketched a stone for Robert's 100 stones project. This is a flint stone I collected in Syria. Geologically, it is a silicified tuff. Senneliers on a brown paper.

robertsloan2 · #14 01-06-2009, 02:54 PM

That stone awes me. Maybe I should try one on tinted paper. It's so beautiful, you captured the texture and curves of the fracture lines perfectly. I always wondered what tuff was.

**Pat Isaac** · #15 01-06-2009, 04:38 PM

This is outstanding Yusuke. I especially like the luminous center.

Pat

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