Tips and Tools For Working With Oil Pastels

All copyrights are retained by the artist,
Mona Majorowicz of Wild Faces Gallery.

The artwork or content in this lens may not be used or reproduced, either
in part or in whole, without the express written consent from the artist.

Have a plan. As I have mentioned before, I draw everything out in advance. The pastels stain my substrate and so it is problematic to scrape off a color that is wrong and replace it with another color of similar values or lighter. Another way to deal with this is to use lighter colors first. When you apply darker colors over light, you can scrape away all of the pastel and have minimal staining.

For smoother blending, it is best to work consistently. If you leave the painting alone for as little as 15 minutes the pastel "sets up" and makes a rough edge. rubbing your finger lightly over the painting or warming the pastel a bit in your hand will help when going back in to work an older area.

Letting the pastel "set up" can be an advantage when you want to put a strong color or highlight over the already existing painting. Often I will let a painting set over night before I put my whitest whites in, over the top of another color.

Be aware of your lighting situation. Oil pastels will glow under the desk lamps. I think this is because the underlying board is reflecting light through the pastels. However when you put the painting under normal room lighting it may well look dark. I have had this happen several times. Under the table lights it is luminous (insert angelic chorus here.) Then when I hang it on the wall, it is flat and lifeless. So disappointing. How I handle this is by working with my table lamps off. I try to work under the normal lighting conditions that it will be viewed in. This also means I don't paint much at night anymore either.

Clean up. As mentioned before, oil pastels are messy. They develop little booger like tags which roll all over and smear. The floor under my drafting table is all speckled and nasty. About every 2 months (it really should be done much more often) I take some dish soap and scrub like the dickens. Goo Gone or Turpenoids also works quite well. Or, if I were a wiser person I would lay down some paper which could be picked up and tossed.

Oil Pastel Sticks 72-pk.

Paper Towels

I use paper towels to wipe the tips of my oil pastels clean while working. This helps to prevent cross contamination of colors when working.

For me this is very important. I hate muddy colors on my painting so I wipe pastels whenever they come into contact with a color strongly different than the one I'm using..

While I don't really use them for the painting process, many artists do. You can use turpenoids to thin the oil pastels and make it more paint like. About the only times that I do this is for painting fine hairs like whiskers (see the introduction photo of the swimming tiger) or signing my name. But many artists use turps to give a smoother more oil painting-like finish. Also you can smudge and soften select areas using a rag and a little turpenoid

This is actually the brand I use. I prefer the all natural version as they don't have harsh fumes. It works extremely well for the above mentioned applications. But also it's great for cleaning up my tools and often my table and floors. Oil Pastels can get rather messy. Or perhaps it's just me who gets messy.

Disposable gloves are a blessing. Oil pastels are quite greasy. If you don't want to be constantly washing your hands, I highly recommend getting gloves. I change my gloves regularly as well to avoid tracking on my painting as well as color transfer from pastel to pastel. I easily go through 10-20 pair of disposable gloves in an afternoon.

Ceramic Tools. These are great for scraping out a large area or removing just tiny little bits. They have a pointed blade on one side and a curved almost spoon like hook on the other.

Color Shapers. I have color shapers that come in various sizes, shapes, points and firmness. You an get them at most of the same places as oil pastels. They are good for smoothing rough edges, minor blending and cleaning up the little tags of oil pastel that are on the surface of the painting.

These of course aren't all of the possible tools you could use. These are just the one I use regularly and consistently. Go experiment and have fun.

Oil Pastels have excellent adhesion and in theory can be used on almost any surface. That being said most people use paper or canvas for their supports.

Do I Need To Prepare The Surface Before I Begin?

According to the Oil Pastel Society: Not as long as you are using professional grade oil pastels.

With lesser quality pastels it might be a good idea to apply some sort of primer. This usually causes a slick surface which the pastel won't cover quite as well. Because of this you may need to sand the surface after priming, to allow for greater adhesion. This is yet another reason to use Professional materials. It is a time and money saver in the end.

The Supports I Use In Order Of Preference:
Museum Board This is quite similar to matboard in appearance and texture but instead of being made up of several plys of paper it is a made of 100% cotton rag. It has a smooth surface which I like and is rigid enough to stand up so I can view my work from a distance.

Watercolor Paper Once again I prefer a smooth surface to work with so I use Hot Press Watercolor Paper. Though I would encourage experimenting with various textures to see what effects are possible.

Canvas If you create a painting on canvas I would strongly suggest that you apply some sort of fixative or varnish. Oil Pastels never fully "dry" so they are always soft enough to get scratched or smeared.

Sennelier Oil Pastel 120 Assorted Wood Box

My name is Mona Majorowicz. I am a professional artist who has been making my living selling my work for some time now. I have been in the art and framing industry for over 20 years. I am an animal artist, (meaning I paint critters) who works primarily in Oil Pastel or Water Soluble Pencil.

Currently, I own and operate Wild Faces Gallery with my husband Mike in a small rural town in Iowa. There we sell my original artwork and prints as well as do quality custom framing and offer Giclee printing for other artists.

I maintain a blog about art and the creative experience called Fur In The Paint, as well as write a regular column for the equestrian magazine Apples 'N Oats about painting horses.

Animals are my passion and art is how I choose to express it.

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