Oil Pastel - Surface and Techniques

Surface and Techniques

The surface chosen for oil pastels can have a very dramatic effect on the final painting. Paper is a common surface but this medium can be used on other surfaces including wood, metal, hardboard (often known as "masonite), MDF, canvas and glass. Many companies make papers specifically for pastels that are suitable for use with oil pastels.

Building up layers of color with the oil pastel, called layering, is a very common technique. Other techniques include underpainting and scraping down or sgraffito. Turpentine, or similar liquids such as mineral spirits, are often used as a blending tool to create a wash effect similar to some watercolor paintings.

Read more about this topic:  Oil Pastel

Famous quotes containing the words surface and, surface and/or techniques:

    Nature centres into balls,
    And her proud ephemerals,
    Fast to surface and outside,
    Scan the profile of the sphere;
    Knew they what that signified,
    A new genesis were here.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity!
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    It is easy to lose confidence in our natural ability to raise children. The true techniques for raising children are simple: Be with them, play with them, talk to them. You are not squandering their time no matter what the latest child development books say about “purposeful play” and “cognitive learning skills.”
    Neil Kurshan (20th century)