Oil Pastels

We use cartridge paper or even brown papers for oil and soft pastels. What is important is that, ideally, the surface should be primed with Tempera paint before using, but if not possible any paper with a bit of texture will do. The image at the top is of a strange landscape with enormous cacti growing in the desert. Students used a dark colour crayon to draw the image.

Instead of applying solid colours, they applied short strokes of similar colours like for instance, several greens on the trees and several pinks, yellows and ochres on the ground to produce the blends.

The picture on the right is a repetition of bird shapes, to create a pattern. The colour was applied in a similar way using short strokes but this exercise was a study of cool colours and warm colours.

Some students used warm colours for the background and some others did the opposite.

This landscape was painted as a watercolour and when dried, colour was scribbled over the watercolours using oil crayons. The oil crayons application gave the picture more definition and interesting textures.

This technique can be done with different themes, such as portraits, still life, sea scapes and urban scapes to name some.

This sample shows solid application of oil crayons, each area was painted using either cool or warm colours. This lesson is an exercise of colour theory based on the concept that cool colours recede into space while warm colours advance.