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Art For Sale - Saint Michael Miniature Pen and Ink Drawings
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Our Lady of Guadalupe, stippled ink on genuine sheep skin, a (finished) Work In Progress |
As war escalates around the world, please remember each day to pray for Peace.
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Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, Inc.
The Society of Tempera Painters
Marians Of The Immaculate Conception
Oil Pastel
A work in progress
"Penance Feather No. 2"
| 20 inch x 10 inch Artboard (c) wood board, 8 layers traditional hand made gesso |
| Sennelier Oil Pastels for majority of painting |
| Guitar Oil Pastels, Sakura Cray Pas Pastels, Caran d'Ache Oil Pastels used in various degrees/colors for parts of the initial under-drawing |
I have worked on different surfaces for oil pastel, including stretched linen, Sennelier Oil Pastel Card, Watercolor paper, etc.. I may be switching from Senneleier Oil Pastel Card to another surface for most of my oil pastel paintings. When I work in egg tempera, each painting is done on a wood board that is layered with 8 layers of hand made traditional gesso, and then sanded to an extremely smooth surface. This process is very time consuming and I have reserved it for my egg tempera paintings in the past. However, recently I wanted to do a painting in oil pastel, and the only surface I had in the size I wanted was a board prepared in the above manner.
Oil pastels sit on top of almost all surfaces, similar to how oil paints would. Traditional gesso is different from what is marketed as acrylic gesso. Traditional gesso is made up of chalk and whiting, gypsum, etc., but without any acrylic or resinous binders. The binder is usually rabbitskin glue. This makes traditional gesso much more absorbent than acrylic gesso. Essential, in my opinion, for egg tempera, I also like it for oil painting and oil pastels. There is some concern of the oil in oil paint or oil pastels being absorbed by too great a quantity into the gesso, thereby reducing the strength of the paint or pastel, but I am not finding that to be an issue with oil pastels.
Below is a painting completed on such a prepared board.
(A good dry powder pre-mixed traditional gesso is Gamblin Traditional Gesso, available at most major art supply stores)
Here is a photo of the prepared board, front:
Here is a photo of the prepared board, back:
The extra splotches of gesso should be sanded off the back prior to beginning the painting.
Below is the board with the initial drawing. I used a Prismacolor terra cotta pencil to sketch a rough outline of my subject. (the faint mark at the bottom left of the board is from some pigment that was on my sandpaper. If that had been a defect in the gesso surface, I would have had to repair it before continuing)
Below is a photo of the painting after the first layers have been applied. I started by applying yellow to most of the board. This prevents following layers from permeating the gesso and makes removal of colors possible if needed later through the painting process. In addition, a yellow layer adds cohesiveness to the painting. Also, with this subject, I plan on purposefully scraping some lines into the layers, and when I do, having the yellow and orange layers already there is easier than trying to add thin yellow or orange lines as an upper layer.
Next I will blend these initial colors using Liquin.
Below is the painting after the Liquin has been applied. This will now dry for about an hour before I start to add more layers of color.
Here is a photo of the first layer of oil pastel after the Liquin has completely dried. This is the beginning of a layer of white that I added using a Guitar brand oil pastel. I will continue adding to the white layer using different brands of oil pastel, but generally I use Caran d'Ache and Sennelier. The Guitar, Caran d'Ache, Cray Pas, etc. are great for underlayers, and I will use the Sennelier for upper layers because of their softness. The surface of the painting before this layer was like a "new" surface because of the Liquin, and the fact that I left brush strokes to dry "in" the Liquin as they were, without smoothing them out.:
Below are two photos of the painting with additional white layers added by making cross-hatch strokes in all directions. The first photo below is after I have added one layer with a Caran d'Ache white oil pastel, and then the second photo is of the painting after I have added more of the same strokes in the top and right side areas using a Sennelier white oil pastel. Caran d'Ache is just slightly harder than Sennelier, and thus each stroke has more individual definition. Some of the initial underlying yellows and oranges are allowed to show through, but only as a tonal quality under the white. I will continue to add layers like this until I feel the background areas have the look I want.
Below are two photos of this painting with the background finished. I have also started to add the main colors to the feather, as well as a first layer of green just under the feather for a shadow.
I am using direct strokes only to add the components of the feather. The strokes by themselves blend slightly into each other, and when I am satisfied with the overall color, I can work on any details. I am only using Sennelier oil pastels on the feather.
Below is a close-up of the left end of the feather with more detail begun. I am scraping very fine lines into the applied oil pastel. Many tools can be used for this, such as the tip of a wooden paint brush handle, a toothpick, or in my case, I am using a metal nail file. My early layers of orange and yellow that are under the Liquin will be what I scrape down to. In addition, I have finished the shadow area under the feather, adding a layer of violet over the initial green, and then another layer of green over the violet.
Below is the finished painting:
Thank you for viewing this!