Sometimes I need to remind myself that a sketchbook is for practice. I sketched two monochromatic pictures to keep color choices minimal.
I practiced sketching oranges. With some, I used the chroma color first, with others a layer of white. The one I liked the best used three different but related colors that overlapped. The color was more convincing, and the texture was the best of the three (bottom right).
And apples are my favorite thing to sketch when I’m practicing.
This quirky, little bird was all by itself. As its name implies, they migrate solo. It stopped by for a break on its journey south, wading in the shallow creek down the road with its jerky, quick stride.
I’m struggling with color. Oil pastel lends itself to vibrant, strong color, and I like to use all of them at once which leads to a battle for attention. My best laid plans of sticking to color schemes go awry each time. Today, I’ll do a few sketches with neutrals and one color family only. We’ll see if I can resist the rainbow.
I tried Uart 400 sandpaper for this. Oil pastel goes down nicely on most surfaces so I wasn’t sold that I needed this paper, but the additional colored pencil I use did a better job on this surface than a gessoed paper or canvas board.
All quick, from my own reference photos, and sketched without any type of grid to help with proportions.
Larches in their autumn colors, based on a photo taken by my husband. This measures 9”x12”, and I used a canvas board. It was a great surface for oil pastel. I think this is my favorite oil pastel painting so far.
My collection of oil pastels has grown. I used my Sennelier box for most of them: Sakura Cray Pas Specialist, Caran d’Ache Neopastels, and Sennelier. We’ll see if it was a mistake to put them together without foam inserts.
