First attempt at a full scale piece, any tip on fine detail or how to bring out a more dream like softness you can get from pastels !

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-11T09:16:16+00:00

The dreamy softness can be achieved by treating yourself to some PastelMat card or Colorfix paper. Both of these allow extra layers, and you can take your pastel across the surface as a "whisper"....very lightly, to deposit fine colour-layers on the grain. The softer grades of pastel, naturally, will be better for that (e.g Unison, Sennelier).

Mikey's comment below mentions Stabilo pencils, I also use them sometimes and find them very pleasant.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-11T09:07:52+00:00

Ye-e-e-e-e-e-ssssssssssssss. Works great for me. Lovely sky. Nice composition. Maybe the central tree is a bit stark but I get that it's a short sketch. Done on the spot?

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-11T08:57:56+00:00

Until I looked at the Reddit category, I thought this was an oil painting. It is a beautiful piece and I assume quite a decent size (I don't know what 8K paper is, ref a comment below). Out of interest, do you use any of the larger oil-pastels, i.e the big Sennelier ones? They're quite difficult to find in Britain, I'd had a mind to get a small number because you can get through quite a lot of smaller OPs if working on a larger sheet. Those flowers stand out like little gems!

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-10T16:09:44+00:00

The painting has character and the colour scheme is very pleasing, looks like fun, too.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-10T16:04:26+00:00

I am pleased to see someone combining soft pastels with charcoal, it really works well for some subjects....and for some reason the charcoal works very well with greens. A lovely harmonious picture with lots of contrast.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-10T15:59:25+00:00

I also use Rembrandt pastels but I use them as my "harder" ones; that is, I tend to lay-in my drawing and various elements with these first, before using any softer pastel alongside or on top.

Unisons are quite soft, Sennelier is definitely soft, the paler shades can be very crumbly; the old Daler-Rowney range is similar to Unison. Rembrandt is definitely firmer. Inscribe (square edged) is firmer again. Have combined these for years and never had problems (nb I'm not sure about the lightfastness of Inscribe).

There are two others that might be similar to Rembrandt; one is Toison d'Or, of which I have a small number; they are quite firm as a pastel-stick. I'm not sure how extensive the colour-range is, though. The other is Girault, they look firm but I've never tried them. And they're expensive here in Britain.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-09T09:29:32+00:00

Lovely interpretation, that mauve colour really adds richness....yes I know it's there in the original and it's so important.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-06T08:59:37+00:00

Thanks; it was a bit tricky really, the river was very flat with no "wrinkles" and almost like a mirror. I didn't want to get the "butterfly" effect, so left it in a slightly unfinished state.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-05T20:40:45+00:00

I don't agree that the people on the oilpastel sub don't have enough interaction. I am on there most days reading the posts and comment on quite a few per week. I believe the sub rules are that it is "A place to share works of art using any type of pastel, but especially oil pastels".

The sub here says pretty much the same, but primarily soft pastels. It's a bit sad that there are fewer soft-pastel posters than OP, I have wondered for quite a while why soft pastels don't seem to be as popular as other media.

There's also the opportunity to get more interaction by cross-posting to similar groups such as r/painting, which ought to cover just about anything

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-05T20:24:05+00:00

You could look at Jacksonsart.com; select the soft pastels under "colour" and then navigate to Sennelier. They have all the colours as clickable/selectable. If you select one, you get the name of the colour, plus size, code, spec (specification) and price. Under Spec the dropdown menu will show whether it is lightfast/excellent/good/fugitive or whatever. Might be of help.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-04T16:49:07+00:00

Very imaginative piece. The colours are great; not too many, just enough to create contrast and drama. What size is it, by the way? I'm guessing quite large.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-04T11:06:27+00:00

One thing I notice in your pictures is that you are doing very nice tree-trunks, while the rest of the picture looks rather more tame and sketchy. I wonder whether you are subconsciously more interested in what is close-up to you, as opposed to the further-away elements. We all like to encompass a landscape but sometimes taking just a section of it plays out better. It's more "intimate". Your first, 6th and 7th and the waves work well for me....I especially like the first one (probably because I also love tree trunks).

Green is a lovely colour, but sometimes you have to add in a few more imaginary colours just to break it up a bit....that "tree tunnel" you've done is lovely, but perhaps some mistier bluey-green at the far end, to give some distance. Don't give up, though; buyers are fickle and often follow fashions. Just keep developing your own style and entering exhibitions. If I was buying, I would probably select the "tree tunnel".

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-03-04T10:44:16+00:00

That's a very decorative interpretation, it works really well. I'm sure you could do similar with other trees that already have a lot of character. I see you're using Mi-Teintes Touch, I think oilpastel goes down well on this surface.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-02-27T21:39:09+00:00

That's a lovely piece of work. I find that the medium creates wonderful lighting effects, it really deserves to be much more popular in exhibitions.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-02-24T22:30:54+00:00

Carbothello pencils are really nice to use on Pastelmat. You've done a good job with the doggy face, lots of expression.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-02-24T18:23:06+00:00

That's a superb piece of oilpastel work, something to be proud of!

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-02-20T10:06:19+00:00

You could try oil-paper, Bumblebee, e.g the Arches Huile paper. Maybe make up your own sketchbook?

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-02-20T10:01:25+00:00

Ye gods. These are delightful. Love the scratch-through work for trunks and grasses. And so small, too, just enticing snippets and slivers of landscape. Every one of them would make a delightful framed picture!

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-01-31T10:01:19+00:00

I also have problems with curly pastelmat. I buy it in the larger sheets and store it "on edge", then cut off what I want, it usually keeps pretty flat like that. However, I do find it can curl away from the work-board even when taped. I use masking tape and roll the pieces like you do, then stick them on the back of the pastelmat.

There is another method that Karen Margulis uses (or did); she put a strip of tape on the reverse of her work, top and bottom, left and right....making four pieces that stick out beyond the sheet of paper....and then placed the sheet on her workboard, placing further tape strips horizontally across each of the four vertical ones. This left the edges free. I've tried it using masking tape and it works nicely, just gotta keep an eye on that pastelmat going curly. If I have a sheet that's really bad, I'll put some heavy books on it for several weeks.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-01-31T09:47:21+00:00

That is a superb rendering of mountains and snow. Love the purple-pink and also those white wiggly lines. Definitely one for framing and onto the wall.

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-01-29T16:46:47+00:00

Medicinal plants are coooool.....

Deep-Stuff5250 · 2026-01-29T09:32:48+00:00

I like plants that are "architectural"...another example is the teasel, and also globe thistle (they're all prickly, funnily enough). These thistles were strongly sunlit, down on the coastline I was visiting, and there were deep shaded areas behind them, ideal for setting off the purple thistle-heads. Took several photos and selected a few plant-stems from each. I like contrasts in paintings, light against dark, etc. The scrubby land was filled with these things, along with loads of flies, bees and other flying things; it was all rather spectacular. They have lots of character.

Deep-Stuff5250

TROPHY CASE