5 Reasons to Love Oil Pastels...

Sorry I haven't put up a post recently; I've been very busy. I haven't had my sketchbook out in a while so it was nice just to have a little play. My chosen material this time was of course (drum roll) Oil Pastel!

This very bright array of pastels are Farrel and Gold and I bought them really cheaply from the best place to buy art supplies: The Works.

So without further ado, here are the 5 reasons why I LOVE oil pastels.

1. Improving existing artwork

I did these pen drawings of faces a while ago and felt like they needed a bit of pizzazz. So, I went in with oil pastels and transformed them. It just shows that any failed artwork can be saved with a bit of imagination. 

2. Colour intensity

..need I say any more?

3.Blending colours

I love using different colours and shades and just mixing them together to create rich thick tones. I've used at least 5 different pastels in the picture on the right.

4. With watercolour

How fab does this effect look? The paint just runs off the pastel marks and creates this amazing blending effect. That's the beauty of wax resist.

5. Ease of use

It took me about 20 minutes to cover 2 pages in my sketchbook with a colour explosion. As a finishing touch, I cut these flowers out of a magazine and stuck them on top (as you've probably noticed, a favourite technique of mine). 

So, I hope this post has inspired you to have a play with oil pastels or maybe spice up some of your artwork.

Until next time...

Emma x