Continuing the oil pastel journey

Tonight I went to my first ever art group. It was great! A small group, just the way I like my groups ::grin:: with a fully qualified lecturer, Drew Harrison, on hand for all those curly questions. And boy, was it great to finally have someone to ask in person some of those technical glitch type questions that have had me haunting YouTube time and time again.

I’ve just spent some time over at his website drooling over his art. I definitely recommend a visit. He has  a variety of styles and subjects the majority of which are expertly-wielded in acrylic. Even hubby has been looking over my shoulder admiring some of his compositions. Of course, the fact that some of his compositions include Australian war aircraft definitely has something to do with it, but we both decided that we adore his frog painting (you can find it under his wildlife category).

As for me, tonight I played with my oil pastels some more.

You’ll have to excuse my scanner’s poor interpretation of red and believe me that it is a vivid deep red and not an orange or a pink which is all I could get the colour adjustment to do.

Anyway, same deal as a couple of days ago.  Oil pastel on illustration board, some swirly white on top to blur the edges of the initial swirl, then some swirly etching, this time more random and less geometric than the last time.

I wanted to experiment with some darker, more pigment intense wash over the top to give it more contrast when I etch out designs in the paint, so this is only a work in progress. I’m planning on etching into the paint and may add more paint or just simply play around until I get something I’m satisfied with. Though it will be interesting – last time I did the whole piece in one sitting. This time I’ve had to put it down and the paint will dry more solid, so when I etch, it may be less smooth an edge.

In any case, I’m just happy I did art.

Here are a couple of close ups which I am quite enchanted with as compositions of their own.

I had a good time, did art, and I’m going back next week. I’m so happy to be feeling inspired again, yay!

Liz
(sometimes inspiration is hard to find, but once you have it, it is a wonderful thing)