Anyways, I had my class on Saturday and the instructor talked to me a bit about needing more professional supplies as my art improves. I had been preferring chalk pastels, but with the professional grade chalk pastels, you can end up with some toxicity, so I was not excited about dealing with that. I have learned that I don't particularly enjoy working with a brush, and despite my many water painting classes, I still hate it and suck at it. So, I am down to oil pastels (which can have some toxicity with the professional grade, but it is limited in the colors, and most brands substitute, so it is easier to avoid), or colored pencils. As of yesterday, I was not very familiar with either of them, so I have decided to work with them and see if I can make one of them work for my main medium.
I started today with the oil pastels. I have used them in the past, but not as seriously as I could have. I decided to duplicate a painting that I did with my chalk pastels to see what the differences would be. Here is my chalk pastel of Mary Cassat's Mother and Child 1880:
And here is my unfinished oil pastel of the same picture:
I have only finished the mother and child's heads so far, but I can say that I actually prefer the oil pastels now that I have given them a fair chance! What a relief! I was so afraid that I would not find anything I liked better than my chalk pastels and would be stuck with the decision of continuing to use student grade pastels and not progressing like I would want to, or using more professional grade and freaking out all the time! I have enjoyed the results of the oil pastels so much, I don't know if I even want to give the colored pencils their fair share of effort. They would be a lot more easy to use outside of my studio, so maybe I will see what happens with them. If nothing else, they can be my back up.
And one last photo. I had previously posted an unfinished chalk pastel painting of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Head of a Young Woman, 1890. I finished it, and am posting it here.
It would be fun to try this one in oil pastel as well! I will post it if I get around to it!
