I've put aside the pastels and have started working in oils. I never thought I would type those words. I love the vibrancy and immediacy of pastels, always have, always will. But lately, I've been bumping my head against some of the limitations of pastels. Like how difficult it is to get a real sharp edge. At this time of year, the tree branches are skinny and spindly and don't like to be drawn in with a thick pastel. Even using pastel pencils hasn't given me the effect that I'm looking for. I'm looking for graceful, yet delicate lines with some hard edges. When I look at bare tree branches, they're dark against a milky white sky. But I can't quite seem to get the branches dark and crisp enough with pastels. Lately, I've longed to paint these branches with a fully loaded, tapered brush.
So I bought an inexpensive starter oil set, toned up a few inexpensive panels, selected a few simple inexpensive subjects and dove in. And wow! I mean WOW! I can't get enough of the juiciness of paint. The vast vocabulary of brushes. The endless combinations and permutations of mixed colors. Yes, my first efforts are a little clumsy, but I'm very pleased with them. I expected so much more effort and so much less satisfaction. So now, I'm full-bore into oil painting.
And it is a bit of a struggle because there are some signficant differences between working in oil and working in pastel. Namely:
Drying time: it's simply not a factor in pastels, but something I have to consider with oil. I can't just finish an oil painting in the morning, frame it in the afternoon and sell it that weekend. Working wet in wet versus dry also lends many different possibilities. I also have to think ahead and make sure that I've got plenty of toned, dry panels ready for painting marathons. (But it does give me time to do some blogging! I'm writing this now, while I wait for some paint to dry!)
Cleaning stuff: I absolutely hate having to deal with medium and solvents. I'm desparately trying to figure out how to get things clean without having the turpenoid go down the sink. I'm using Turpenoid Natural, which is expensive, but supposedly safe for me and the environment.
Different types of hues: I'm learning the difference between opaque and transparent paint. Again, not a factor in pastels.
Blending on a palette: With pastels, I blended my colors right on the paper, usually with the tip of my little finger. With oils, I need to lean how to use a palette. Which also requires keeping it organized and clean. Very helpful: Palette Skills video at Jerry's Artarama. Just a few minutes long, but Mike Rooney's demonstration of basic palette skills is something I haven't seen covered in any book.
Framing: Haven't yet framed any of my oils yet, but I'm looking forward to NOT worrying about having the right mat and NOT having to deal with glass! And NOT having to throw away a mat because it got too smudged!
Photographing oil paintings: Can't just slap them on the scanner like I do my smaller pastels! I tried it and the scanner picked up every little canvas bump. So for now, I'm just going to do my best to photograph them, but I'll need to deal with this as I get more photo-worthy oil paintings under my belt.
All these gripes remind me of when I was learning pastels. I remember being completely intimidated by the hundreds of colors, shapes, sizes, and softnesses available. But now using pastels is a natural to me as brushing my teeth, so I'm hoping that oils will eventually have the same degree of comfort.
It's a new year, a new season, and I'm learning a new language in which to express my love for the natural world. It's so exciting to discover this new and ancient medium. But I'm not giving up pastels entirely. They'll always be my first love. When I do break out the boxes, I'm hoping that I'll have learned some new things from working in oil that will allow me to push the pastels ever further.
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