My last two posts were on art, so I’m going to continue this topic since I’m in a good flow right now, and want to see how far I can stretch my abilities with the little time I get after work.
Recently, I complained about how Watercolor is hard, and then rejoiced in the comfort of how Sketching is easy. Both of these were obviously written from my own perspective and experience with these art media over the course of my life. I had used acrylic as well in the past, but was never a fond of those paints because of how much you always had to use. Always seemed too wasteful. Watercolor is very efficient but too wild and dynamic. I don’t think I perform well under the time pressure of watercolor (similar to other things in life as well). Sketching however comes naturally to me and probably is closest to my personality as well. Simple, calm and infinitely adjustable as you can always erase what you don’t like and shade what you want to emphasize.
And all I can comment on is what I’ve tried myself. But after 37 years of life on this planet, I somehow feel like experimenting and trying out new things. Of all the paint media, I always wanted to try out oil painting for the primary reason of how good the oil paintings look. The colors, the impressionism and so much style is infused in those oil paintings, especially the classics. But, oil paints are very messy and require a well organized setup. I do not have the space or the time to delve into that right now. So, while searching on YouTube about “easier oil painting”, I stumbled upon Oil Pastels.
First, I thought we’re talking about crayons, like from kindergarten. It’s the same thing, but instead of being made just of wax, they’re made with wax and oil. Kinda like a solidified version of oil paints in my understanding. The history is interesting as well. You can read on wikipedia about how Pablo Picasso was the one who initiated the manufacturing of Oil Pastels through Sennelier. I didn’t however buy the $120 Sennelier box since I’m just starting out, so I bought the $20 Mungyo box which turned out to be more than satisfactory after my first attempt tonight.
Here is the finished artifiact:
Not bad for a first attempt I think. It absolutely exceeded my expectations on how easy it was to work with the colors here. I did follow a YouTube tutorial, so I won’t pretend to say that I could produce something like this on my own right now. But the layering approach is very intuitive, blending with fingers is straightforward although I need to get better at it, and even adding details was super easy too. No brushes or water needed. I could take my time and just add on colors when needed.
Safe to assume that I will stick with Oil Pastels for a while now and see what else comes along whenever I decide to take out this pastel paper pad, the set of colors and maybe a YT tutorial to follow-along.
Usually I engage in art whenever I’m in either a very good mood or a very pensive mood, and it always helps.
Good night folks!