Lunch Hour Oil Pastel Sketches

I recently bought myself a box of 12 Sennelier oil pastels. They're the limited edition ones made only with natural pigments - which is cool, although slightly challenging, as the colours are a bit limited. The range is still pretty amazing, though; as far as landscape goes, the main lack is a blue that accurately depicts the sky on a sunny day. There is a blue; it's indigo. There's also a purple, which is cochineal (there's a stunning red made from another variant of the same pigment).

St, Peter's (Thursday)

Lake 3 (Friday)

Anyway, I wanted to try the pastels out in a landscape setting. The weather has been glorious, but I've been at work; the solution was to take art materials to work and go in search of a view at lunchtime. On my bicycle.

It's been great fun. The oil pastels are a revelation - soft and creamy, laden with colour - after the cheaper ones I've owned for a while. The restricted colour range is interesting to work with (although they are frequently difficult to tell apart), and taking an A4 pad (of special oil pastel paper, as it happens, primed and interleaved with protective cover sheets) and a box of pastels is so much simpler (and lighter) than my painting expedition gear. I've been finding benches to sit on - churches and country parks are good for that - so my work trousers don't get too muddy or wet.