Thursday, August 22, 2013

Experiment with pastel paper

August 22, 2013




I am experimenting with something new.  Can you tell which painting was done on pastel paper?  The reason I am trying this is because quite a few years ago I purchased two big packs of pastel paper at an estate sale.  Since I am some what frugal, at least I like to use what I have, I tried doing watercolor studies on it, some pastel work (I have never had any instruction with pastel and never seem to do anything worthwhile with it) and some charcoal.  So I thought why not do studies with oil on the paper.  It turns out to be a really nice surface to work on.  I'll try gluing it to foam board and framing it.  I'm not sure which painting I like better. The second one is kind of moody and I like the greenish neutral background with the color of the figs. 

4 comments:

  1. I like the first painting, but I would be careful about painting oils on pastel paper. Acid in oil paints will destroy the paper eventually. Did you gesso the paper first? I have seen artists using gessoed watercolor paper as support. Some think even that's a bad idea. Hard to tell. I have never tried it. Foam board also warps when you glues something onto it. I know it from experience. Masonite panel would be better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kim, that is good advice. I'll have to either stick to using it for studies or maybe I should try to sell it. I have two big packs of it. Or I could learn how to use pastels.

      You are doing so well with the pet portraits. Congrats

      Delete
  2. I like the first painting, but I would be careful about painting oils on pastel paper. Acid in oil paints will destroy the paper eventually. Did you gesso the paper first? I have seen artists using gessoed watercolor paper as support. Some think even that's a bad idea. Hard to tell. I have never tried it. Foam board also warps when you glues something onto it. I know it from experience. Masonite panel would be better.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like the first painting, but I would be careful about painting on pastel paper. Acid in oil paints will eventually destroy the paper. Did you gesso it first? Some artists paint on gessored watercolor paper. Some think that is a bad idea too. Hard to tell. I have never tried it. Foam board warps when you glue something onto it. I know it from experience. Masonite panel would be better.

    ReplyDelete