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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Introduction

I have been drawing for 20 months now. I started back then, because I wanted a creative hobby, that you can do on a daily basis without needing lots of material initially. So I decided to learn a bit about the basics of drawing, practiced and soon found out, that it is easier than everybody thinks. And after all, you don't have to be perfect for it to be fun and for your drawings to be valuable. You are free to find your own way of drawing. While drawing as often as possible, I often find myself thinking a lot about this craft and me doing it. I certainly like drawing and sketching in sketchbooks. They are like journals you can browse through again and again and see what you were up to when you filled them. I am going to share my thoughts about drawing here and hopefully will dare to share one or the other drawing.

What I do

I love working in sketchbooks. I start on the first page and fill it in order from front to back. I always date my pages. My sketchbooks are numbered. They are like chronological albums. The insides of the covers are decorated with pretty stickers. Right now I have a watercolour sketchbook and one with drawing paper. And no, I don't have fear of the first page. There are so many more pages to fill. Some will turn out great, some less so, and that's fine. I mainly draw and paint at the weekend. I am not an artist who creates stuff that takes many hours to complete. My subjects vary. There’s not that one thing I do. Apart from not being into portraits and characters, almost anything can appear in my sketchbooks. I like to draw realistically, but have also started to experiment with some partly abstract pieces. I do this for myself, so I am free to create what I like. I want my work to be good and beautiful, but the process is what matters.

New Sketchbook

There is nothing like preparing a new sketchbook after you have finished the previous one. I like to decorate the insides of the front and back cover with stickers. One that says „Sylvia‘s sketchbook no. x“ and some simply for decoration. After filling the first page I also add the month I started it. After filling the last page I then add the month I finished it. The stuff on the right is just digital.

Sylvia‘s Art Journey

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