I've been pondering this whole mixed media thing and I've decided to add new media deliberately to take advantage of specific qualities. So, here's a painting I've struggled with in pure watercolor. This was a snowstorm back in April (the 15th, to be exact), after the daffodils had bloomed. I'm using oil pastel as a resist so I can paint the flowers with abandon. I probably have to add more pastel later, but it's early days yet... we'll see.
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| 9" x 12" |
Same principle here... I've carried around this idea for a while, but couldn't figure out a way to do it without being too fussy. Here, I used oil pastels to reserve clumps of the flowers (white and pink). Then, I did a watercolor wash for the sky and came back with water soluble oil pastels to refine the blossoms and add the branches.
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| 5.5" x 7.5" (spread) |
Here, I was just playing with the oil pastels to get acquainted—no laughing! This is water soluble oil pastel on canvas. I didn't take full advantage of the water soluble part though. The first one is just direct drawing; then, I did some blending and added a background. I stopped here because I like the texture of the canvas showing through and found some of the blended passages getting muddy.
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| 10" x 8" (each) |
More playing. This is standard oil pastel on sketchbook paper. I blended a bit (fingers, palette knife and rag) and even tried a bit of scaping in the fur collar until the paper began to pill. The background is straight watercolor--just because I wanted to fill in the space more quickly than using the oil pastel stick.
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| 8.5" x 5.5" |
Very intriguing. Love the look of the daffodils in the snow. I find that it takes a lot of figgurin.
ReplyDeleteIn the daffodils painting where are you using the oil pastel? The yellow daffs look like watercolor. The cherry blossoms and the old guy portrait look great. Nice combo of oil pastel and watercolor. My issue with oil pastel is control. I can’t seem to get the same delicate branches with oil pastel as I can with watercolor. I like the resist effect of the sky painted over oil pastelbranches , but I can’t really sharpen them to get a point. Blending is an issue too. But I like seeing your experiments.
ReplyDeleteIn the daffodils, I just made some random white marks where snow rests on the stairs and the daffodils; mostly I wanted to reserve the place where the snow sits on the leaves. I don't think it's as good a resist as masking fluid, or even candle wax. I'll have to add more at the end. The branches on the cherry blossoms were oil pastel added at the end, after the watercolor sky. I agree with you about getting a point; they seemed a bit stubby to me and I think I should have done them with watercolor.
DeleteCan you try sharpening them? Like they sharpen crayons with that sharpen encased in the crayon box? Or even just rubbing an oil pastel on a piece of sand paper or emery board? Anyway, I like all your experiments. And seeing which way works the best for you. So many possibilities. The watercolor added to the pastels looks so much better than when it's just the pastel alone - in the side by side portraits. The cherry blossoms look like a well integrated mix of media - no one jumping out more than another. Same with the last portrait. The scratching into works.
ReplyDeleteSorry I am so late in commenting. Sometimes writing these comments just wears me out. Really like the pink and white flowers against the blue springtime sky. And it's even across two pages which is something I don't approve of at all, but it somehow seems to make it more fluttery which is a good thing. That guy I dunno. Usually your people have some kind of spark and he just looks like a boring guy.
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