Oil Pastel Technique

OIL PASTELS

Technique

• Oil pastels are actually a pretty old type of art material. They have a wide variety of uses, and can be used in a wide variety of ways.

• On the following slides we’ll look at a few different oil pastel tecniques.

Stencil Technique• The pastel is used for the backdrops , it is covered with

an ink wash, watercolour or diluted acrylic. The pastel repels the shade and shows through.

Blending• Technique based on the blending of colours using the

finger, stump or mineral spirits/turpentine/turpenoid.

Impasto• Thick and dense lines that bring out the texture and the

intensity of the colour of the pastel. The paper is quickly

saturated.

Hatching and Cross-Hatching• It underlines the relief and enables to obtain special

effects of hues, colours and textures.

Parallel Brush Strokes• Parallel brush strokes with the tip of the pastel.

Fragmented Colors• Slight brush strokes overlaps (of various colours).

Scratching• This technique enables to reduce the excess of paint on

a surface, to uncover previous colour layers or the paper background. An engraving point or a painting knife may be used, or a scratchboard, or an acrylic background covered with pastel pasting.