Wednesday 22 June 2011

Bath, England

Bath, Somerset
Oil Pastel and ink pen on Bristol Board A3
It's been a while since I posted here I know, but I have been busy on a large project, which I'll tell you about some other time.


On a trip to Bath in Somerset recently, I was just in awe of the abundance of Romanesque architecture on every street. Our trip was fleeting, but we have promised ourselves to go back again and spend some more time there, just to try to take everything in.

This is my first foray into oil pastels, and I have to say that it is a very exciting medium. I've tried to keep my work quick and spontaneous, starting first with an ink sketch. Some of the scale is a little adrift, but I just wanted to get the general shapes of the figures and buildings rather than being too accurate.

There are 36 colours in this box, and they are a joy to use, even more so, as I picked the box up second hand at our local car boot sale last weekend for £2 - what a bargain. I think that £2 is going to give me a lot of pleasure!

6 comments:

  1. Great to see you back again!
    What a lovely sketch too - I never got on with oil pastels. They remind me of those giant waxy crayons we used to use at school, which were impossible to keep within the lines! Hey - maybe I SHOULD use them then - That might help me get over my tendancy to be too neat!

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  2. LOL, sometimes I wish you would go over the lines Sandra! These pastels are a bit chunky, but I have no worry about going over the lines because, to me, no matter where the colours stray to, the lines are still visible (with ink) to hold the whole thing together. Straying over lines also has the effect of keeping everything loose and unconstrained.

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  3. What a bargain!
    the sketch is lovely - looking forward to seeing more work done with these :) xx

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  4. Thanks Pat. I've done another one, and can say that they are extremly fast compared to watercolour!

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  5. THat is a bargain Frank! This sketch looks beautiful and full of life! And it looks like a ton of fun too. Glad to see you back here Frank. :)

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  6. Thanks Crystal, it's great to be back after not being able to post for a couple of months. I have a lot of catching up to do with what you have all been doing I can see.
    One of the best things about this medium, is that unlike watercolour, you don't have to set your stall out before you begin. You can just pick up the pen and pastels and go, and there's very little cleaning up to do afterwards. This is a big plus when you don't have a studio where you can leave stuff lying about!

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