Tips and Techniques

Oil Pastels and Raw Pigments

by

Steven Verhaegen

I've long been fascinated by the work of the French conceptual artist Yves Klein: 

 http://www.yvesklein.de/

and

http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/education/modern/modern4.html

and especially by his works using monochrome dry pigment.

One of the advantages of oil pastels is their soft surface, allowing you to work into the surface a variety of materials (pigments, sand, etc.) to create additional textures. Hence, I attempted a small experiment combining oil pastels and raw dry pigment, trying to emulate some of that almost hypnotic feel of those monochrome works.

As I didn't know how the experiment would work out, I wanted to keep the painting itself fairly simple. I simply outlined my hand with a dark coloured pastel. Then, using a very creamy oil pastel (I used a Sennelier La Grande white) I added a layer of white oil pastel, using mainly short strokes radially away from the outline. I made sure the layer was thick and heavy, and contained an interesting impasto-like texture.

Immediately afterwards (so the oil pastel surface is still at its softest) I dusted on the dry pigment. I used Ultramarine Deep--to keep in the Yves Klein spirit--from Senneliers Pure Dry Pigment range. Dusting was done by dipping a dry soft mop brush into the pigment powder and carefully brushing it over the white oil pastel. Vary the amount of powder and/or pressure on the brush to get variegated coverage.

Note that the pigment has a tendency to stick into nooks and crannies in the texture, thereby enhancing the surface texture.

(Fig. 1)   (Fig. 2. Close-up).
 
Fig. 1 and 2. Close-ups showing the Ultramarine pigment
enhancing the white oil pastel texture

To add additional contrast and some warmth to the composition, I surrounded the blue pigmented area with some Yellow Ochre oil pastel, allowing some of the pigment to bleed into it, too (Fig. 3. Close-up).



Fig. 3 Close-up showing the pigment on top of
white and Yellow Ochre oil pastel

I used NOT pressed heavy watercolour paper (555 lbs from Windsor & Newton) which provides a sturdy support so the oil pastel surface doesn't get flexed too much to prevent dislodging the adherent pigment. The final result is shown below (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Touching the Void - 21 x 29 cm