A Bend in the Wreake in oil pastels

A Bend in the Wreake in oil pastels

Get to grips with your oil pastels with this easy to follow demonstration by PA Tim Fisher

I feel very privileged to be living in what must be one of the most picturesque parts of Leicestershire. Sleepy villages with their tall steeples punctuate the meandering banks of the river Wreake as it travels from Melton Mowbray down to Leicester.

This simple scene shows a bend in the Wreake and one of the churches peeping out through the trees.

I tend to work on a variety of surfaces with oil pastel, it’s surprising how the response changes on different papers. Pastelmat is one of my favourites and one I keep coming back to again and again.

Start by marking the scene out very lightly in coloured pencil, so that any mistakes can be covered over easily. Don’t press too hard as the line depressions will show through when working pastel over the top.

Although coloured pencil is difficult to rub out, it won’t pick up and dirty your pastels as you work.

The surface is a pale yellow colour which is easier to work over than white. Start by working a white pastel over most of the sky and the water area.

Over this drag the side of Pale Blue into the sky to form the cloud shapes. I always take the paper off half of the pastel and break it to make it easier to use. Add Mummy for the distant sides of the valley. Block the tree in roughly with Olive Green. Don’t pre-work any sky colour under the tree or the tooth of the paper will be quickly used up, making subsequent layers very slippery.

The foreground is Naples Yellow and Chrome Brown.

Return to the sky and work in more Pale Blue and white. Add some Luminous Yellow into the clouds for warmth, then gently blend with your fingers or a rag. Keep working with the sky until you are satisfied with the results.

The mid tree line can be worked next, using Olive Green as the base colour, then adding Naples Yellow to the light side and Burnt Umber to the dark side. It’s always a good idea to work from the top downwards, so that your hand doesn’t smudge areas near to completion.

The church can be quite fiddly to paint with oil pastel. An easy way is to cut a steeple template out of paper and lay on the painting. Rub on Chrome Brown, add some white for the light side and Burnt Umber to the dark side.

Remove the mask and dot in the window. The large tree on the left is developed by working Sap Green over, but leaving sky holes. Paint some of the sky colours into these holes. Create branches and twigs by rolling the edge of the pastel in your fingers as you work. Add Naples Yellow for highlights on the leaves.

Drag Olive Green from left to right over the surface to complete the foreground grasses. By varying the pressure on the pastel, different tones can be achieved. The embankment is a mix of Chrome Brown and Mummy, with a little Burnt Umber at the waterline. The water is Pale Blue dragged downwards. To finish the water effect, add some horizontal strokes of white. A hint of Mummy in the water gives the reflection of the bank. Finally, add some birds to give the scene some animation.

Tim’s paintings can be found in public and private collections throughout the world. He is available for workshops and demonstrations to art groups and works in a variety of media. For more information, visit his website www.timfisherartist.co.uk or call him on 01664 434340