So this week we tacked oil pastels. Technically this is painting but it feels much more like drawing. To create the most vibrant colours I suggested using three colours which are close together on the colour wheel in every section – so never using one pastel on it’s own. Then if you use each one in small circles, leaving tiny gaps, rather than blocking in an area like a felt tip pen, when you add another colour to fill in the gaps you leave you get a much richer tone. This works great for blending as well, adding more colours to get an even blend. In this way you can get smooth gradations of rich, vibrant colour. I think it’s helpful to think of oil pastels like paints – after all they are really just a more convenient way of using oil paints – and so to work in layers, light to dark, building up the intensity. It can also work to create an underpainting in a neutral tone.
With the younger kids we also used the scraping method – where you colour in a page with any colours of oil pastel and paint over the top. Once this is dry, use the pointy bit of a compass to scratch interesting lines and marks, revealing the colours underneath.
