Testing my new oil pastels

So meanwhile I have bought some oil pastels, a 12 colour pack by Faber-Castell. My main reason for buying them was to be able to fill larger areas with them instead of with coloured pencils.

They say you can blend them with your finger. It is possible, but rather difficult. They are not very creamy. As the finger method was not successful I tested some other methods. First I blended them with oil and with a little care and practice this would certainly work well. The problem is that it seems to create quite a mess in a sketchbook. So it's no option for me. I have then tried to blend them with a stump - works, but it is a lot of work to get a pleasing result. Next I tried it with a vinyl eraser and a kneaded eraser. Both work rather well, though you lose some colour and it looks brighter afterwards. Still, I think this could be a good way to create a background.

I am going to buy some kind of mineral spirit soon and see if this works for my needs. Maybe it would be a good idea to also buy a brush to use with it. I hope to be able to test this next weekend.

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