It seems the best way to learn how to use oil pastels is to watch…
Logical Right Eye
And so straight on to the right eye. The same techniques as I used for the left eye. Whereas with watercolours and to a lesser extent inktense pencils, I like to restrict the number of colours used, with oil pastels, I’m going to be throwing everything in.
During the painting of this one, one of my pastels snapped in half. It felt like a rite of passage and that at that point I became a proper pasteller. If feels like I’ve made a huge amount of progress today.
Being a self portrait, this isn’t for sale. But what should I do with these two eye paintings? Maybe I could use the eyes in something similar to I Am The Eye In The Sky, taping them behind a sheet of glass and painting on the other side, leaving gaps for the eyes to look through. Or could they be the first two elements of a set of paintings to be cut up and collaged together into a self portrait?
<Edit: it’s May 2023 and this eye has indeed just been incorporated into Looking At You.>
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