Need help with pastels!
ELynne
picture turned out amazingly well--I amazed myself! (cue Princess Leia
with "That must not be very difficult...") Now, for my next trick--trying
to figure out how to finish the thing so the oil pastels don't smear off
every time I touch the picture. :P Does anybody have any advice on this?
Is there some kind of fixative or something I should use? Keep in mind
that I'm utterly, completely, abysmally ignorant of art materials--I've
been going to art stores and buying whatever looked appealing.
In a similar vein, I have an extremely embarrasing question to ask about
cleaning up oil paints. That's the whole question; it's only embarrasing
when I remember wandering around the house in a daze with my hands covered
wtih reddish-orange oil paint, trying frantically to find paper towels...
<wince>
-- Erin, Easily Amused
"Look, I left orange fingerprints *everywhere*!!"
DannyCat
Dennis Lee Bieber wrote in message <36bf0fb3...@nntp.ix.netcom.com>...
>On 08 Feb 1999 00:40:05 PST, ELynne <Ely...@cris.com> declaimed the
>following in alt.fan.furry:
>
>> with "That must not be very difficult...") Now, for my next trick--trying
>> to figure out how to finish the thing so the oil pastels don't smear off
>> every time I touch the picture. :P Does anybody have any advice on this?
>> Is there some kind of fixative or something I should use? Keep in mind
>> that I'm utterly, completely, abysmally ignorant of art materials--I've
>> been going to art stores and buying whatever looked appealing.
Heh.. .this is going to sound trite.. but have you visited your local
library? They are a marvelous source of art techniques. I would strongly
reccomend pouring over a few books and just " studying up" on the medium
that strikes you as interesting. I own a few books and have recently been
looking them over again to refresh my memory on how tos. Seems there are
always a few little things you forget, like soaping up the brush BEFORE you
use it to apply liquid frisket ( watercolor thingy ) .
> What type of paper did you use? I have read that normal pastel
>papers tend to rot over time from the effects of the oil base.
Personally wouldn't worry about that as you are still learning, .. I never
have tried oil pastels, only the chalk variety - maybe there is a fixative
nowdays meant for them too. :/ ( research)
>> In a similar vein, I have an extremely embarrasing question to ask about
>> cleaning up oil paints. That's the whole question; it's only embarrasing
>> when I remember wandering around the house in a daze with my hands
covered
>> wtih reddish-orange oil paint, trying frantically to find paper towels..
> Hmmm, I wonder if one of those lanolin based cleaning creams
>would work on oil paints -- they are common for automotive service,
>designed to work without water.
They kinda do.. I used to do etching and was forever getting oil base inks
off my hands.. As for your clothes tho.. oh well. :P Good luck :)
Cerulean
>I finally did a picture with pastels--oil pastels, to be precice. The
>picture turned out amazingly well--I amazed myself! (cue Princess Leia
>with "That must not be very difficult...") Now, for my next trick--trying
>to figure out how to finish the thing so the oil pastels don't smear off
>every time I touch the picture. :P Does anybody have any advice on this?
>Is there some kind of fixative or something I should use? Keep in mind
>that I'm utterly, completely, abysmally ignorant of art materials--I've
>been going to art stores and buying whatever looked appealing.
It depends how good your art stores are, but if you look near the
spray-paint, you should find some colourless fixative sprays. Read the
labels; they will have a list of which materials and media they can be
used on.
--
___vvz /( Cerulean http://home.att.net/~kevinpease
<__,` Z / ( DC.D/? fs+h++ Gm CB^P a$m++d+++l*g-e!i
`~~~) )Z) ( FDDmp4adwsA+++$C+D+HM+P-RT+++WZSm#
/ (7 ( o6u!oq - ,,Jnoj uo +ou s6a7 om+ uo >7eM,,
sola...@don'tmesswithtexas.net
>I finally did a picture with pastels--oil pastels, to be precice. The
>picture turned out amazingly well--I amazed myself! (cue Princess Leia
>with "That must not be very difficult...") Now, for my next trick--trying
>to figure out how to finish the thing so the oil pastels don't smear off
>every time I touch the picture. :P Does anybody have any advice on this?
>Is there some kind of fixative or something I should use? Keep in mind
>that I'm utterly, completely, abysmally ignorant of art materials--I've
>been going to art stores and buying whatever looked appealing.
For oil pastels, I've had good results using Mona Lisa Clear Clear Cote
(made by Houston Art & Frame Inc.), as long as the work is on reasonably
heavy paper (by which I mean 100lb Bristol board, or something equally
heavy). I _would_ suggest you take a sheet of the same paper you used for
the artwork, do a quick oil-pastel test sketch on it, and try the stuff out
before you commit your "real" art to it, though. :)
Mona Lisa leaves a "gloss" finish; if you'd prefer a matte finish, I've
also used Grumbacher Damar Varnish #633 successfully on oil-pastel/paper
drawings. Same caveats as above; it needs to be fairly sturdy paper, and
be sure to try it on a test sheet first.
If your work was done on lighter-weight paper (such as 55lb sketch
bond), your best bet would be to get a can of Krylon "Workable Fixatif" No.
1306 (or something similar). This won't seal it quite as well as the
clear-coat sprays, since it's really meant more for pencil sketches and
other "dry" media - but if you apply several light coats, one on top of the
other, you can fix the oil-pastels well enough to protect the drawing as
long as its handled with reasonable care afterwards.
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