My oil pastel work

[CherylL]

Talented painter! Do you do any painting in photoshop?

 

[terri]

Thank you, Cheryl - I'm still learning!

No Photoshop here. I think I spent too many of my working years in front of a computer to want to spend more time there for art. Even my photography is hands on (analog), and my special love is alternative photographic techniques. Apparently, I'm not happy unless I get my hands dirty.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Yeah, the computer is too much like work, and not the fun part of working with kids. A certain amount of documentation is necessary and finally we were able to scan in notes etc. but did they have to go overboard with it? yes, they did...

I like hands on better too, all those years of edible finger painting, etc. And chocolate, anything chocolate makes for a fine mess!

I like the original silo, with it being overgrown the transfer looks appropriately vintage and creepy and grungy. Maybe it was a happy accident to turn out differently than what you intended (which if you hadn't mentioned I wouldn't have known). I like it, I bet you could submit it to an alt process competion (although I've gotten things accepted, it's something of a crap shoot!). I think it's better than you think, there's some reason you saved it.

 

[SquarePeg]

Don’t want to hijack your thread but someone asked to see Sophia’s artwork. Here are 2

 

[SquarePeg]

excuse the blurry iphone photos

 

[terri]

Yeah, the computer is too much like work, and not the fun part of working with kids. A certain amount of documentation is necessary and finally we were able to scan in notes etc. but did they have to go overboard with it? yes, they did...

I like hands on better too, all those years of edible finger painting, etc. And chocolate, anything chocolate makes for a fine mess!

I like the original silo, with it being overgrown the transfer looks appropriately vintage and creepy and grungy. Maybe it was a happy accident to turn out differently than what you intended (which if you hadn't mentioned I wouldn't have known). I like it, I bet you could submit it to an alt process competion (although I've gotten things accepted, it's something of a crap shoot!). I think it's better than you think, there's some reason you saved it.

Thanks for the comments on the silo transfer. I did tons of them when Polaroid was still easy to come by, so I apparently set a high bar for myself. That one, all I see are the flaws. Been ages since I sent anything in competitively. I've lost much of the films that I loved the best, so output has shrunk from me.

Edible finger painting! Chocolate! I'd never leave the studio!

 

[terri]

excuse the blurry iphone photos

No harm at all, I wanted to see and I think @snowbear did, too. These are great! She does lovely work, great details. Details can be tricky with OP's, and she's nailed it. I love the sky in the top one.

Be sure to tell her that her work was applauded! Hopefully she'll keep playing.

 

[snowbear]

Don’t want to hijack your thread but someone asked to see Sophia’s artwork. Here are 2

View attachment 175587 View attachment 175588

I love the beta. She has done very well, indeed. Thank you (and her) for sharing.

 

[SquarePeg]

Thanks she as both thrilled that you liked them (on the inside) and annoyed at me for sharing them (on the outside). She corrected me and told me the fish is oil pastels but the Motif #1 is actually colored pencils. She says they look like oil pastels when on black paper.

She was very impressed by Terry’s Van Gogh and the abstract portrait.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I really like the first one, didn't realize that was done in color pencils (although I could tell it was different). I personally like pencils more than good ol' Craypas because I like to sketch and get thinner more precise lines and a different look than you get with pencils. (Although even crayons are fun to play with!)

Has she taken much art? She seems to have a good sense of proportion in her artwork. (Which I found I learned a lot about in art classes many moons ago.)

Terri you would've loved being an EI Specialist, lots of gooey fun!! I was always wearing something home on me.

I'd like to try pencils on black paper, don't remember ever doing that and I like that idea. Realized I actually do have some black paper handy but I'm rusty, might have to practice a little. Or a lot.

 

[zulu42]

I'm impressed by all the paintings posted, and the photographs, too.

My favorite is the beach scene. I find it exceedingly charming and wonder what is the size of the canvas?

 

[terri]

Thanks she as both thrilled that you liked them (on the inside) and annoyed at me for sharing them (on the outside). She corrected me and told me the fish is oil pastels but the Motif #1 is actually colored pencils. She says they look like oil pastels when on black paper.

She was very impressed by Terry’s Van Gogh and the abstract portrait.

Interesting - I'm guessing with lots of layers, the colored pencils build up a sheen, which would certainly look similar to OP's. Sorry she had to feel embarrassed (I can almost hear the gasps of horror!) but glad you posted her work. She has nothing to be shy about!

 

[terri]

I'm impressed by all the paintings posted, and the photographs, too.

My favorite is the beach scene. I find it exceedingly charming and wonder what is the size of the canvas?

Thank you so much! It's done on paper, actually - 9x12" Arches oil paper. I haven't done anything using oil pastels on canvas - such a textured surface, it can eat up a lot of the OP stick.

It's great paper for oil pastels, since it has gesso or some kind of ground mixed in with the paper pulp when it's made. A few work-in-progress photos of this piece:

The underlying sketch, showing most of the base layer of oil pastel over it:

Then the way it looked after I blended/washed the OP with Turpenoid (it was burnt sienna, I believe). I do recall a mild freak-out at this point - that came out a lot brighter than I thought it would - I was pretty sure I'd ruined it.

Then painting over with layers of various oil pastels, until done:

I often forget to stop and take pics while I go. It helps me to look back later and see how I built something up.

 

[terri]

Here is another take on copying the masters. I did this one last year sometime. This is my rendition of Picasso's Jacqueline with Flowers, here's a link to the real thing, 1954. I love his portraits!

My attempt is painted on 12x16" Arches oil paper.

I took a lot of "work in progress" pics with my phone. They help me recall how I built something out later on. I about wore out my eraser sketching this thing in graphite. With oil pastels, graphite isn't the best choice to sketch with, and I stick with chalk pencils now. Supposedly it's ok as long as you spray over the graphite with a workable fixative.

I took this picture after I sprayed the sketch, and started in making the background neutral gray with oil pastel:

Then did the background and the head. I knew there wasn't much point in continuing if I screwed the head up!

After that, I got the skin tones in, then used both OP and pencil to get the facial details in there. It was more fun moving on to the rest of the painting.

 

[snowbear]

Love the interpretation. I'm so glad you decided to post these.