Oil Pastels – Page 2 – Katie Jeanne Wood

How I created a man portrait with oil pastels step by step

Oil pastel portrait of a bald man
work in progress

I was feeling a bit rusty when I grabbed my oil pastels to create this portrait. It’s been a while since I spent time drawing. I’ve been hyper-focused on painting the past few months.

I decided to just relax,
and go with the flow.
It’s only oil pastels & paper,
afterall.

I started by laying down a bunch of colors. I put dark colors where I thought the shadows would be. Lighter colors where I thought the light would be hitting his face. I didn’t use a reference photo, and was making it up as I went along.

I had forgotten how much more effort it takes to use oil pastels..that they’re not as simple or as forgiving as a brush stroke of paint. It’s not as easy to fix mistakes with oil pastels.

For instance, if you grab the wrong color, it’s pretty much too bad for you. I thought I was using blue around his eyes, but it turned out to be green. Oops! Oh, well. Keep going!

I blended with a tortillon.
I used the largest one I had
because of the size of the paper.

I’m letting it sit for a couple days to let the oil pastels set, so it’s not so smooshy. Once I finish it, I’ll varnish it to seal it, and it will be available.

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You can message me here.

Other places to find me online.

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Lists, Letters, & Stories Told – oil portrait painting

Lists, Letters, & Stories Told
oil portrait painting
museum quality splined canvas
Available here

I finished this portrait painting
a couple months ago,
and it’s now dry & ready to ship.

This piece was hand drawn, and painted by me on museum quality splined canvas using the following materials: gesso, Dorland’s wax, oil paint mediums, mineral spirits, Galkyd, Gamvar, and high quality artist oil paint (Williamsburg & Gamblin). Oh, and oil pastels, almost forgot! It’s been sealed to protect it from fingerprints, and dust.

It is available to purchase here.

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Cray-Pas Specialist oil pastels review

I’ve had these Cray-Pas Specialist oil pastels for a few months now, which is why the box is a bit messy. These oil pastels are quite large, square, and chunky feeling in my hand.

I bought this set mainly for doing larger background areas. I didn’t have the greatest experience using them. You can see where I’ve used a lot of the yellow one, and that’s because the oil pastel wouldn’t stick to the surface of my painting. I had to keep going over the background because the pastel kept lifting off on my tortillon in large chunks. I had to keep putting down more pastel, and fighting with it.

After trying and failing over again, I ended up giving up on it. I scraped the entire background off, and used another brand of oil pastel to get the background finished. It only took a few minutes to get the job done right.

I didn’t want to give up on the oil pastels just yet. This time I used 65 lb toned drawing paper, instead of canvas board.

The colors remained pretty consistent in texture on the paper, except for the yellow. Again, I was having issues. The yellow one didn’t layer or blend as well as the other colors did.

Overall, I think these oils pastels are okay-ish. I don’t love or hate them, but I’m not sure if I’ll purchase them again. I need more time to experiment with them first before I decide. I might end up falling in love with them, but I’m not feeling it atm. It took me years to love gouache, tho, and now I don’t want to live without it…so anything is possible.

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What I’m watching:

My First Reaction to Marabu Crayons for Drawing: Lady Gaga in Joke 2

Why Artists Are Never Happy

NO LONGER SCARED! | Working loose & getting over the fear of the sketchbook | Essee watercolours

Why I Stopped Taping my Watercolor Paper – I only taped my paper once, years ago. Then I ripped the painting trying to take the tape off. I’ve not used tape since. I’ve done this method many times, and it works.

Why I Choose a “Boring” Life – I think most everyone’s living a boring life. Sure, there are exciting moments, but it’s mostly filled with everyday routine.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a lovely creative day.

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Purchase original art through me, and get free shipping.

I also sell originals & prints on eBay and Etsy – shipping isn’t free on these sites because of the high cost of fees & ads.

You can message me here.

Other places to find me online.

***

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Sneak peek at an oil pastel portrait painting

Sneak peek at an oil pastel portrait painting
WIP

Are you getting bombarded with Cyber Monday emails today? I’ve had several big companies email me out of the blue with ads for their sales. I never signed up to their mailing list, nor do I want to continue receiving unsolicited emails in the future. Having to take time to unsub from emails I never signed up for was annoying, and it will probably get worse when December gets here.

I’ve also started to unsub from artists who only email when they’re selling something. There will be dead silence for weeks or months, and then BAM. Email after email – buy this, buy that.

Over the weekend, one artist sent out a barrage of emails about her new class. There’s nothing wrong with telling people about your class, but this was over the top. I think I counted 16 emails in two days. This was after already receiving numerous emails about the class & her art sale last week. Oy.

Two days left, one day left, hours left – allll weekend my phone notifications kept going off. I know marketing gurus tell people to do this to create a sense of urgency – “HURRY BUY NOW!!” but please, I beg you, don’t do this – for the sake of your art business & your followers.

Yes, it got my attention but at what cost? This morning after deleting the emails, I had had enough, and I unsubbed. It sucks because I like this artist & her work.

This kind of “marketing” smells heavily of desperation, and it stinks being on the receiving end of it. If someone wants to sign up for your class or buy your art, they will. Please be patient, and give them time to consider what you’re offering. There’s absolutely no need of sending “urgent” repetitive reminders every few hours. You’re just going to annoy people with this tactic, and lose followers in the process. Just my two cents, for whatever it’s worth.

The art supplies from HELL. A (cautionary) Halloween Tale – I’m a little late to the party on this one, but it’s so creative & entertaining, I have to share.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Notes from NYC’s Underground Art Scene

In Praise of Painterly Painters – “painterly painters have little interest in the dogged pursuit of “perfection”. If anything, they’re hostile to it. “Perfection is the enemy of great art,” says one such painter. “Make a few mistakes,” recommends another.”

Artist Insights Georgina Potter – video from Jackson’s Art

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Purchase original art through me, and get free shipping.

I also sell originals & prints on eBay and Etsy – shipping isn’t free on these sites because of the high cost of fees & ads.

You can message me here.

Other places to find me online.

***

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Oil pastel men portrait paintings

Remembering The Last Time He Saw Her
Oil pastels on construction paper
Available here

Today I’m sharing some portraits of men, which I created back in the summer. They’re all available in my shop.

The Art of Mindfulness
Oil pastels on cardboard
Available here

Sad Tragic Tale
Oil pastels on cardboard
Available here

I tried out this new tan board for photographing my paintings, but after using it one time, I switched back to a white background. Turns out my phone hates this color, and did all kinds of weird things to the photos, including turning some a purpley red. I would have spent hours in Photoshop trying to color correct each one, and who has time for all that? So the white background is here to stay…for now.

It gets boring doing the same thing over & over, so it’s fun to try something new, and experiment. You’ll never know unless you try, even tho most of the time I fail, fail, fail, fail & waste loads of time. <— Ain’t that the truth, tho? Ha! Oh, well.

Purity of Youth
Oil pastels on cardboard
Available here

I Need You To Tell Me
Oil pastels on cardboard
Available here

I’m off to spend the evening with my husband. We finished watching Anatomy of a Scandal on Netflix last night, and went on to watch 3 episodes of Six Feet Under. I had no idea this series was a comedy. It’s pretty funny. I’m not completely hooked yet, but most likely will be soon.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. 🙂

Rabbit wearing knitted sweater

Rabbit wearing knitted sweater
11×14 inch
oil pastel portrait drawing

This oil pastel portrait painting has been varnished, and is ready to hang in your favorite frame.

Knit Sweater
Available here
Shipping is free with the USA

I hope you have a lovely creative weekend.

Men portrait paintings in painterly naive style

Judgement Call
Oil pastel portrait on cardboard
Available here

These oil pastel portraits were created from my imagination, which is always an excellent jumping off place to begin a creative session.

Imagination is an invincible portrait.
Lailah Gifty Akita

Naive Nomad
Oil pastels on cardboard
Available here

If an image hasn’t already formed within my mind’s eye when I’m ready to draw or paint, I close my eyes for a few seconds, and wait for something to appear.

Money Lover
Oil pastels on cardboard
Available here

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I’m currently on hiatus from creating new work to sell, but there are plenty of paintings in my shop for sale. Shipping is free within the USA, if you purchase art directly from me. I also sell originals & prints on eBay and Etsy. You can get some great deals on my weekly eBay auctions and/or on some of my flash sales I have on Etsy.

As always, if you want to say hello or have any questions you can write me here. I love getting email, and hearing from you.

Other places to find me online.

***

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Cray-Pas Expressionist oil pastels review

Cray-Pas Expressionist oil pastels

The first time I used these oil pastels, I thought the colors were too basic, so I used other pastels to fill in the colors absent from this set. There isn’t a dark blue, purple or green which I often use for shadows. The red is more of a burnt orange, and not as vibrant as others I use.

This time around I decided to only use the colors in this set, so I could test out how well the pastels work with each other. I also wanted to figure out if this set is the right choice for me, given the limited colors to choose from.

Turns out, I really like these Cray-Pas Expressionist oil pastels. They are similar to other brands I use, like Arrtx. I didn’t find the limited palette all that difficult to use once I set my mind to using less colors.

These Cray-Pas Expressionist oil pastels have a nice creamy texture, and layer quite well. I was able to use white for highlights, and blend it in smoothly with my tortillon. Some brands I’ve tried don’t layer or blend well.

These oil pastels left very little crumbs on my paper. It was easy to blend in the tiny pieces with my tortillon as I was working. The paper I was using is 65 lb toned drawing paper. I’m not sure what the brand is or where I bought it.

I’m pretty sure I used every color in this set on this painting, and they all were consistent in texture. This is important to me because other brands I’ve tried haven’t been consistent – some colors were dry & crumbly, and others were too soft & slippery. See links below for my review of Paul Ruben oil pastels.

If you’re someone who likes to work with a limited palette, you’ll most likely love this set. If you need more color options, you should check out the Arrtx brand.

Other brands of oil pastels I have reviewed so far – Arrtx, Paul Rueben: part one and part two, and Cray-Pas Expressionist.

Reading:

Recreating The Colour Palette Of Helen Frankenthaler – So beautiful! I have often thought of buying a wooden palette to use for a month or so, and then hang it on the wall as a display piece. Also, I couldn’t help notice how Helen looked so much like my mother when she was her age.

7 tips for the self-taught artist

Decaffeinated – Blogpost I read last month, and have reread several times since then – “Sometimes you just have to remind yourself that you’re lucky you get to do this in the first place. If it’s something you get to make any kind of living at, you’re lucky. If you’re someone with the ability or luxury to carve out actual time in your day to be creative, you’re lucky. If you live in a place where freedom of speech is a given, you’re lucky. If your brain is still healthy and working, then you’re goddamn lucky.”

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As always, if you want to say hello or have any questions you can write me here. I love getting email, and hearing from you.

Other places to find me online.

***

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