Fur In The Paint

Flamin’ Sheep
Oil Pastel on Handmade Paper
10 1/2″ x 13″

I finally got around to posting this. As you may have noticed, I got over my fear of calling it Flamin’ Sheep. I’m not sure how, but that title has appeared to have stuck.

So here it is finished. I wasn’t able to take it along last weekend, which is too bad since I actually have several sheep painting patrons at that event. So it goes. I’ll just have to email them a pic.

I thought I would do a detailed, step by step on doing horse hair using watercolor pencils. This painting is being done on Arches 140# hot press watercolor paper. If anyone has any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Here, I applied the base colors dry. I tend to scribble with little thought, other than following the directions that the hairs run.

Colors used: Chocolate, Dark Blue, Indigo Blue and Violet/Wine

Note: The colors mentioned are descriptive names, NOT the actual names on the pencils. Why did I do it this way? Well heres an example, Sanguine. . . what the heck color is Sanguine? (It’s a ginger/pumpkin color for those who are curious.) Also, I usually use multiple shades (2 or 3) of each color listed.

Here, I added water and blended out the color. I tend to use small brushes (For this, I used a #5 round.) I prefer to use cheap brushes, as the scrushing action (not a real technical term) of lifting the pencil into a liquid paint, tends to ruin the brushes.

I select the area to work in by following the muscle shapes or shiny coat lines. I do this, so if there are any heavy lines of pigmentation around the edges, they work with you in laying in a denser color for the shadows. In this instance, I worked the main neck muscle up to the shoulder line.

I wet a small area at a time, working quickly, so there is a minimum of hard edges. Again, try to follow the hair growth. It will look a little patchy. But because multiple layers will be applied, how it looks at this stage is kinda irrelavent.

Note: You could use a larger brush. Just be aware that this will put down more water. You may want to consider using heavier papers or stretching your lighter weight papers if buckling becomes a problem.

After the paper has dried (approximately 1-2 minutes) I add the second layer, again following the direction of the hair.

Colors Used: Chocolate, Purple, Terra Cotta, Indigo, and (very limitedly) Black.

Then apply water wash as before.

Hair effects are created by scraping a sharpened pencil through the existing layers of color, while the paper is still wet. I generally don’t do this over the entire painting. On this painting, I will only use this technique for the extreme highlights on the face and crest of the neck, as this is where I want my attention to be. Most of the neck will be done with a dry pencil.

Here, along the crest (top of neck) the scrape marks are freshly done. While the scrape marks in the area of the neck have had additional color applied, with a dry pencil for more subtle blending.

Note: If your paper dries before you finish with scraping in hair, just re-wet the paper using your brush. A Q-tip also works well to wet, as well as to lift off areas of intense color.

The neck area is now half done. All of this work was done dry. I burnish in color until the paper no longer accepts more. Then if necessary, I go in and wet the paper again. This will allow me to continue to add more layers of color.

Colors Used in Shadow Area: Chocolate, Purple, Terra Cotta, and Indigo.
Colors Used In Highlights: Cinnamon, Ginger, Periwinkle and Light Blue.

This is pretty close to being completed here. I say pretty close because as I work, I tend to go back in and adjust coloring to fit the rest of the painting. Nothing is really considered completed until I have signed the painting.

I had big plans on doing a proper post today, about watercolor pencils. But as I am feeling a bit under the weather it will have to wait until tomorrow. I did however, get the go-ahead on my new horse painting, a portrait of Catch. The painting is currently 15″ x 22.” This size may change because my compositions usually expand and contract as I work.

I had completely forgotten (or blocked from my memory perhaps?) The amount of effort required in layering in the color. This represents about 8 hours of work, and the face is not yet completed. However, I am having a blast working with the pencils again. I love the effects that they provide. And apparently, I also forgot how much fun, being anal about all the tiny little hairs was. (Sigh, its like coming home.)

Here is the outline drawing for my next painting, if it gets approved that is. I rarely (pretty much almost never) do much for commission artwork, though I get asked all the time. I think a horse artist could make a good living, just painting for hire. I . . . alas, don’t have the stones to paint portraits on an on-going basis. Frankly, I barely get the time to paint, what I want to paint, without scheduling it in. Let alone, work on stuff for others, and under their parameters. Kinda kills the creative juices for me. I sure respect those who can, though.

So, what is it that will get me to agree to do your horse’s portrait you ask? Well . . . in a nutshell, flexibility. You must have a willingness to let me do what I want and the fortitude to let me do it in my own time frame. (Yup, I’m not asking much huh? No siree, not much at all.)

The saint who requested this painting, is my editor Carol Eilers. She has been waiting patiently for almost a year. (Umm … maybe it has been a little over a year. I’ll have to check.) I think what has held me off for so long, (besides wanting to give it my undivided attention that only the off-season months can provide) is, I just couldn’t get excited about doing the traditional head shot. But once I let go of the idea of a head shot portrait. I got inspired by all the possibilities. If she doesn’t like this composition, I do have a backup plan. Something slightly more portrait like where the horse is in profile. But I love this composition, as well as the wistful look in his eye. I will probably go ahead and do this piece regardless.

This painting is to be done in watercolor pencil. I am kinda jazzed about this because it has been years (literally) since I have worked in watercolor pencil. I am curious to see how, what I have learned with oil pastels, translates over in the pencil artwork. We shall see. I will be posting work in progress (WIP) shots, so you can follow along and judge for yourselves.

This month in the gallery, it has been uncharacteristically busy for a February. This is a good thing. (A really good thing.) But it has left me very little time for painting. I did manage to finish up my Earthmovers painting today. Whoohoo! I will post it, just a soon as it gets scanned for the print making process.

Last week, I had some small snippets of time in which I wanted to create. But, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have enough time to offer my full attention to the Earthmovers piece. So I decided to do a small, brightly colored painting of Budda. My creativity muse was seemingly out sick that day. So I decided to try something that I had been planning on doing for years, but just never got around to trying. That is, taking some photos and playing around with them in Photoshop.

Original Photo
This first photo is an untouched image.

The following photos only had minor adjustments. It wasn’t so much that I wanted something to copy. As it was, a desire to spark a new way of looking at the image.

Increased Saturation
When I printed this out, I thought…”Well thats interesting, but it really doesn’t do me any good.” And I tossed it aside.

The next day I had my art group, so I took the painting along with me to work on, while we all sat around and talked. I also took the original photos (not the Photoshop’d versions) for my reference. It wasn’t until I got home that, (to my complete surprise) I noticed how much my finished painting resembled the color saturated image. Apparently on some level, I had soaked it in. (osmosis perhaps?)

Posterised
I don’t think I used this posterised image at all. (not even by osmosis.) But I included it, as one of the two adjustments that I did. I really like the look that posterising creates and may try it again on another project.

Cropped and Rotated
This photo has not been digitally manipulated and was my main reference image. It was cropped and the image was rotated by about 45 degrees. (I did this by hand, by laying strips of white paper over the photo until I got a composition that I liked. No computers necessary.) I really wanted to keep it a small, easy, and fun painting. So I elimated all the extras in the background and simplified the whole thing with cropping.

Bright Eyes - Oil Pastel 8×8
Copyright by Mona Majorowicz

Finished Painting
It is quite a bit darker here than in real life. But you get the idea. The painting’s greens. blues and purples are quite vibrant, and is actually what makes the painting. This isn’t great art. But it was a good way to loosen up a bit and have fun with color.

Since I posted yesterday about the importance my neighbors horses played in their lives. I thought today, I would show a couple of paintings that I have done, that were specifically inspired by those same horses. I have done at least five paintings based on their animals. But I have included only one, of each of the media that I work most commonly in. My neighbors are Percheron people. They occasionally have other breeds but they have always had Percherons.

The Greys - Water soluble pencil 16 x 24
Copyright by Mona Majorowicz

The Greys
This is an earlier painting and the first that I did that was inspired by their horses. I was walking one winter with the snow gently falling. The mares and yearlings were all out along the fence row watching me (I think they were in hoping of goodies.) That really is all there was to the inspiration. By the time I got back from my walk, I had it all planned out in my head. The bells in the painting are also my neighbor’s. I sketched them a few weeks later, as they hung by their door, for a Christmas decoration.

Kindred Spirits - Oil Pastel 10 3/4 x 30 1/2
Copyright by Mona Majorowicz

Kindred Spririts
This painting came from several photos I took just a summer or two ago. I always carried my camera in my van. So, when I drove past their pasture, on my way to the gallery, I was ready if something photo worthy was happening. This day was late into summer and the black horses were bleached bay by the sun. The herd had been mingling under the big shade tree, when the boss mare decided it was time to go cool off in the soothing waters of the creek. At first one or two straggled after her. Then the rest followed as a group packed tightly together. I am always fascinated by repeating patterns. And their arching necks and sloping backs were intrigueing. So tah-dah! a painting is born. You can read a more complete story of the creation of Kindred Spirits in my Apples ‘N Oats article on my website.

As an artist, having upwards of 30 draft horses, within view of our farm has proved to be quite inspirational. Currently all the horses are gone. I’m not sure if they will be bringing any horses back with the loss of the barn. This too, is something that I am really going to miss.

My favorite Story About The Neighbor’s Horses.
Several winters back, in the dark of the night I would hear noises coming from outside. Just thumping and rubbing type sounds. In the morning light, their tell-tale platter sized footprints and poo piles, were everywhere. So I called over to the neighbor and said “I think your horses are out.” She takes a moment to look and says “No, they are all in the yard pen.” (Hmmm.) So this happens for a couple of nights. Until finally she calls us up and says, “We caught them!” Apparently, they were just stepping over a low spot in the fence coming over to our place to check things out and play. (I bet they also touted their new found freedoms, to Chicory as well.) Then, when morning came around, they just headed back up our lane and stepped back over the fence for their morning grain ration, thinking no one was the wiser.

Clever girls!

I was recently reading one of my favorite blogs. Maggie Stiefvater has both wonderful artwork, as well as a great writing style. One of her recent posts was about complementary colors. This got me to thinking of what complementary colors I use in my work.

Periwinkle is my all time favorite color for painting. (It doesn’t really appear anywhere else in my life.) Nearly every painting I do has periwinkle in it. I almost always couple it with ginger. The two complementary colors just pop when placed together. I actually purchase more periwinkle and ginger pastels, than I do blacks or whites.

The three paintings I have shown here are all recent examples of paintings where I utilize these complements in greater and lesser degrees. On the oil pastel tiger painting called Making Waves, the gingers are obvious, but the periwinkle is subtle. The black stripes are mostly a deep purple with periwinkle hightlights.

On this oil pastel painting of the Belgian draft horse team called Days End, much of the shadow area is done in a wine color mixed with purple. Nearly all the highlights on the flynet and tack are periwinkle.

And with the mare and foal oil pastel painting called Devotion, yet again periwinkle colors are used instead of all grays for the nose and eye areas. The lavendar color adds a softness which lessens the harshness of the grays.

I am not sure how I got to the point of loving this color combination. It just sort of happened. My techniques develop almost organically, without a lot of directed thought. I think that is why I am a self-taught artist. It is all about the exploration and discovery.

Oil Pastel Tips

• Have a plan. As I have mentioned before, I draw everything out in advance. The pastels stain my substrate and so it is problematic to scrape off a color that is wrong and replace it with another color of similar values or lighter. Another way to deal with this is to use lighter colors first. When you apply darker colors over light, you can scrape away all of the pastel and have minimal staining.
• For smoother blending, it is best to work consistently. If you leave the painting alone for as little as 15 minutes the pastel “sets up” and makes a rough edge. rubbing your finger lightly over the painting or warming the pastel a bit in your hand will help when going back in to work an older area.
• Letting the pastel “set up” can be an advantage when you want to put a strong color or highlight over the already existing painting. Often I will let a painting set over night before I put my whitest whites in, over the top of another color.
• Be aware of your lighting situation. Oil pastels will glow under the desk lamps. I think this is because the underlying board is reflecting light through the pastels. However when you put the painting under normal room lighting it may well look dark. I have had this happen several times. Under the table lights it is luminous (insert angelic chorus here.) Then when I hang it on the wall, it is flat and lifeless. So disappointing. How I handle this is by working with my table lamps off. I try to work under the normal lighting conditions that it will be viewed in. This also means I don’t paint much at night anymore, either.
• Clean up. As mentioned before, oil pastels are messy. They develop little booger like tags which roll all over and smear. The floor under my drafting table is all speckled and nasty. About every 2 months (it really should be done much more often) I take some dish soap and scrub like the dickens. Goo Gone also works well. Or, if I were a wiser person I would lay down some paper which could be picked up and tossed.

Tools For Working With Oil Pastels

• Gloves. Disposable gloves are a blessing. Oil pastels are quite messy and greasy. If you don’t want to be constantly washing your hands, I highly recommend getting gloves. I change my gloves regularly as well to avoid tracking on my painting. I go through 10-20 in an afternoon.
• Turpenoids. I personally don’t use them other than for cleaning up. However they are great if you want to use a paint brush with your pastels. Also you can smudge and soften using a rag and a little turpenoid.
• Paper Towels. I use paper towels to wipe the tips of my pastels. This helps to prevent cross contamination of colors.



• Ceramic Tools. These are great for scraping out a large area or removing just tiny little bits. They have a pointed blade on one side and a curved almost spoon like hook on the other.



• Color Shapers. I have color shapers that come in various sizes, shapes, points and firmness’. You an get them at most of the same places as oil pastels. They are good for smoothing rough edges, minor blending and cleaning up the little tags of oil pastel that are on the surface of the painting.

These of course aren’t all of the possible tools you could use. These are just the one I use regularly and consistently. Go experiment and have fun.

A Brief History
Oil pastels are a relatively new medium. They were originally developed in 1921 and later improved in 1927 at the Sakura Crayon Company. The original product was to be a combination of the crayon and the pastel. Thus the name Cray-Pas was born. Cray-Pas are considered a children’s medium as they are made with dyed fillers and have no archival qualities.

In 1949 Henri Sennelier, in collaboration with Pablo Picasso and Henri Goetz, created a new professional grade oil pastel. Picasso is said to have asked for a medium that could work on any surface, such as wood, canvas and metal. Oil pastel offered him the most direct way to work. No brush or instrument interfered between the artist’s gestures and the work.

What Are Oil Pastels?
Oil pastels are small crayon like sticks. They measure about 3″ long and 1/4″ thick They can be square or round, and may or may not come wrapped in paper.

There are three grades of oil pastels.

• Children’s Grade (Cray-Pas)
• Student Grade (Van Gogh)
• Professional Grade (Holbein, Sennelier)

Professional grade oil pastels consist of a pigment mixed with a non-drying inert oil and wax binder. They are non-yellowing and acid free. Oil pastels can be applied to any surface as they have excellent adhesion. They will never harden, so they will never crack and they maintain archival stability.

Protecting the Artwork
Because they never really dry, they must be handled carefully as they can be damaged. Most artists use 1 of 3 methods to protect their completed works.

• Cover with a wax paper.
• Frame under glass. (My personal way of going.)You must be sure to provide an air space between the glass and the painting with the use of matting or spacers.
• Apply a fixative or varnish. This is somewhat controversial. Sennelier makes an oil pastel fixative spray. But I would recommend only using it with Sennelier oil pastels. Personally, I don’t use fixative because Holbein, my main brand, says not too.

The Brands I Use
Most oil pastels vary in coverage and texture. Some are very firm while others are buttery soft. Experiment with a few different types when trying to determine whether oil pastels are a medium for you. All the brands I use are professional grade.

Holbein - my favorite. They are firm have great coverage and color and are wonderful for mark making. They also have an extensive color range.

Caran d’ Ache – This was the first brand I tried and I enjoyed them so much I never looked back. The are slightly softer than the Holbeins with a more limited color range.

Sennelier – Excellent quality oil pastel. They are buttery soft. Because of this I am not a huge fan. However their colors are sumptuous. I do use Senneliers but tend to mix them with the afore mentioned other two.

Note: I recently tried Sakura Specialist They were recently created by Cray-Pas. They are seriously hard and their coverage is a little weak. When I first tried them I was disappointed but I have played with them some since. And have learned to use them in combination with the others effectively. Not my favorite, but that is more about how I prefer to work than a reflection of the pastels.

Where I Get My Oil Pastels.
I usually get whatever open stock (individual pastels) I can at whatever local art supply stores we run across when we are out at an event. Usually Dick Blick. Living in the boonies as we do, this means I can usually only replace the most common brands.

Where To Find Open Stock
www.dickblick.com In most DickBlick stores.
www.dakotapastels.com These guys are great. They carry all the brands in open stock. The only place that I have found so far, that does so.

Where To Find Complete Sets

• www.dickblick.com
• www.cheapjoes.com
• www.jerrysartarama.com

History Reference: www.oilpastelsociety.com

I thought I would address how to paint hair (in this case a horse’s coat) with oil pastels. I plan to also blog about doing horse hair in water soluble pencil in the near future. I tend to work with oil pastels in a more impressionistic way, than I do in water soluble pencils. So creating a fur coat is less about putting in every little hair and more about directing line and color to achieve the visual effect of hair. I took a few WIP (work in progress) shots of my current painting for illustration. (I apologize for the lousy dark photos. I am still new to using Mike’s digital camera.) Since I am a sectional painter, (meaning, I like to work on one small area at a time and finish it, before moving on) the photos are of a small section of the whole painting.

To begin with, I need to have a fairly comprehensive drawing. Oil pastels stain my substrate (which is 100% cotton rag museum board) so I need to have a good idea of what I am placing where, to avoid complications from having the wrong color in the wrong place. It is possible to scrape off a certain amount of color, but in general it wouldn’t work to have too great a color shift. The underlying stain would show through any similar value color as well as anything lighter, placed over the top.

Also, I don’t use turpenoids for blending. You get can get some great effects with turps. Like subtle blending or for painting with a brush. However, I love the mark making that using the straight oil pastel gives. I rely on laying color next to color to achieve my goals. Nearly all of my blending is done with the pastels themselves.

First Thing: I do is lay in my darks. In this case, black and darkest grays. Though it has a random scribbley look to it. I lay my lines in the direction that the horse’s hair coat runs.

Step Two: I add the mid-tone ranges of grays. I also add the periwinkle and ginger colors now. (one of my favorite color combinations) In this applications the gingers add warmth and the periwinkle provides pop.

Step Three: This is where I put in the lightest grays, creams and sparingly … white. White, much like black, when used in excess can make a painting look flat and lifeless. However when used properly, you can achieve great contrast and highlights. Some blending and overlay is good. Too much though and you’ll have mud.

Lastly: Go back in and do whatever needs to be done. Often this is re-establishing the darks, if they get blended out too much. In this painting I added royal purple in my darks to again add zing. Also, there are always little bits of board showing through where I didn’t get the colors completely blended. So I rub these out using a shaping tool or my finger. Then I move onto the next section.

I have been working with oil pastels for a couple of years now. At this point, a lot of what I do is almost done without thought. Working quickly, I just let the creative energy flow through me while I put in colors. Then at some point I just realize that it is done. It looks like it is supposed too. Anyway, that is how it is supposed to happen (when the stars are aligned and all is right in the heavens.) Sometimes, I can work it and work it and it still doesn’t come out right. Then, the wisest course of action is to either stop for awhile or move on to a completely new area. That is what I did with this painting. The left hand dark horse hasn’t worked out the way I envisioned it. So, I moved on to the gray horses. Now that I am happy with them, I feel more confident to go back in and rework the dark horse.

In the next few days, I will cover oil pastels further. What they are, where you can get them and offer some tips for using them.