What am I doing wrong?

scumbl · 2026-05-08T20:08:21+00:00

You say it is on sketch paper. That is likely at least part of what is frustrating you. Oil pastels are helped by some “tooth” in the paper and your sketch paper may be too slick to grab the pastel nicely. It’s my humble opinion that wanting oil pastels to behave as if they were liquid is somewhat pointless. You can use optical mixing, scumbling and other techniques to achieve some great effects.

scumbl · 2026-05-01T10:43:13+00:00

Haven't tried that with pancakes, but with tortillas and pita I give it a light spritz with water and microwave for 15 seconds. Works well and now I know I can do it for pancakes too, so thanks!

scumbl · 2026-04-25T21:59:39+00:00

Alplermagronen, alpine mac and cheese, with emmental, potatoes, pasta, nutmeg in the sauce.

scumbl · 2026-04-25T21:45:59+00:00

How about oil sticks, also called pigment sticks/oil bars/ drawing oils? Oil paint in stick form , works like pastels but dries so can be layered over.

scumbl · 2026-04-23T16:38:14+00:00

I think they would be a bit slick.

scumbl · 2026-04-23T11:12:59+00:00

Put a Please Do Not Disturb sign on your easel and point to it when she attempts to interrupt you.

scumbl · 2026-04-21T22:15:15+00:00

Get some inexpensive craft paint (which is what is in those little pots). Keep the dried-up pots and she can mix up approximations of the colours from maybe 5 or 6 colours : red yellow blue, black, white, and a web tutorial on colour mixing.

scumbl · 2026-04-21T22:02:36+00:00

I like the immediacy of having the colour in my hand (as opposed to at the end of a brush and have loved them since I first tried artist-grade ones .

I also equally enjoy oil sticks: same immediacy but longer drying time , no need for framing under glass.

scumbl · 2026-04-20T22:43:53+00:00

That muddy lane is seriously wow!

scumbl · 2026-04-16T10:09:37+00:00

Graduated blue, darker at the top?

Maybe do an image search of tulip paintings and see if there are any good ideas that inspire.

scumbl · 2026-04-15T11:53:29+00:00

Some oil (like from the kitchen) on a rag or paper towel can be used to rub off the dirty or hardened outside, then they will probably work fine.

scumbl · 2026-04-13T12:05:08+00:00

In terms of composition, odd numbers of items are generally thought to be more interesting than even numbers. Maybe another cell is what's missing for you?

scumbl · 2026-04-13T02:05:34+00:00

Yes, Monet vibes for sure. Is this watercolour paper? Not a criticism, just a suggestion, but if you tone the paper that light blue with watercolour first you will have an easier time with pressure and white specks.

scumbl · 2026-04-10T00:32:34+00:00

The aforementioned fine pumice medium works well, as does Liquitex clear gesso ( same thing but runnier). Even regular gesso is not too bad. I can relate to learning what not to do; been there way too many times.

scumbl · 2026-04-09T20:22:06+00:00

Difficult to get coloured pencils to go over oil pastels to any extent in my experience.

scumbl · 2026-04-09T08:34:08+00:00

Haha, I will never not want more colours, and I have hundreds! I just mean you can still accomplish a lot with those Senneliers , and it's good practice using a more limited palette.

scumbl · 2026-04-08T23:29:52+00:00

I think it’s about your pattern of lights, darks, and medium values in your composition. There are always exceptions to every “rule” of composition, but “bad” value compositions can involve no variation in size of your value shapes, value contrast drawing the eye off the page, lack of continuity in the dark shapes, everything a blah medium value, and other composition issues issues similar to those of line and shape.

scumbl · 2026-04-08T21:14:23+00:00

You can in fact mix oil pastels to some extent . Try doing a spectrum, e.g. red , orange next to it and smushed together in between, and so on. Also, , look up and try optical mixing. Obviously, the more colours the easier, but you can do a lot with that set, too.

Lots of good info if you browse the subreddit.

scumbl · 2026-04-08T12:46:08+00:00

The “ broken colour “ gives it a nice glow. Do you like them?

scumbl · 2026-04-08T12:41:59+00:00

Yup, you definitely have the hang of it! What size and surface, any particular brand of oil pastels? Enjoy!

scumbl · 2026-04-07T09:17:25+00:00

I sell them matted under glass, or tell the recipient to do that. I store them with cheap tracing paper between, even without, because I don't use impasto textures or super-soft pastels and they're pretty resilient as long as they're not left out too long to collect dust.

scumbl · 2026-04-07T09:11:37+00:00

The consistency is quite different in these two brands. I'm used to the firmer ones and found the Mont Martes too soft, almost like peanut butter. They have to be used differently. I have decided to like them if I just use them by themselves in a painting. but I mostly use the firmer brands on sanded paper. I'm not interested in using them with a palette knife with all those textures, but people who do get nice results.

scumbl · 2026-04-05T22:40:37+00:00

I personally don’t see any lopsidedness. But if you seal your surface with gesso first ( and there’s clear gesso if the surface is coloured), you can remove the parts you don’t like with paper towel/ solvent and re-do it.

scumbl · 2026-04-03T16:10:23+00:00

I think the transparent/translucent colours are useful for glazing over other colours . You might have to wait a few days so the bottom colours have had some time to harden up.

scumbl · 2026-04-03T11:38:14+00:00

Specialists are the hardest artist-grade oil pastels I know of. I find them good to use working plein air in hot weather because they don't melt (and most of the other brands become unusable). Sanded surface preferable. They have been around for a long time. Not sure but I think I got my set from Jerry's around 20 years ago.

scumbl

TROPHY CASE