INSPIRED BY CHILDREN!

I was at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery where there is a fabulous exhibit of high school children's art work.  This is a very large gallery with tons of space, so there was a lot of work displayed, including ceramic pieces and other 3 dimensional things.  The work is so original and creative.  I think part of the reason is these kids are given challenging projects and concepts.  They aren't just copying photographs.  There should be a website that lists interesting challenges.  Maybe there is.  If someone knows of such a site, please pass it on.

There were a number of figurative images done with oil pastel on newspaper.  I loved the look, so I decided to try it myself.  I have these very creamy water soluble oil pastels called "Portfolio" which are available at Staples and very inexpensive but fun to work with.   This was a lot of fun.  I think I will do more in the future.

THE SECOND TIME AROUND!

                                          

I went to a life drawing session tonight, and dragged more supplies with me.  I wanted to try out the oil pastel resist idea.  I found the model very uninspiring and I think the drawings reflect that.  I did have a great time playing with a new combination of materials.  I am liking working with the oil pastels.  I have about 3 sets of very cheap oil pastels.  I decided to use them up before purchasing some quality ones.  They aren't very creamy, to say the least, but they do act as a decent resist.  I posted my favorite first but the correct order starts with the second image.  I put down a red pastel line, then went back with a black ink brush pen.  After that I used some ink washes.

The second painting I decided to use two different colors of resist, then the ink brush pen.  Lastly I added a little blue color along with the ink wash.

Next I decided to put a wet wash of color on the page, let it dry and then did  the brush pen and ink.  Lastly I added the pastel.  I wasn't thrilled with this order of applying the pastel.  

Next, several drawings with different colors of pastel over a washed background, then ink, then I painted stronger color over the body.  Starting to get somewhere here.  

The next idea was to strengthen the color around the body...that is my favorite.

Then I decided to strengthen the color on the body and the outside areas, leaving light forms around the edge of the figure.

The last idea I played with was to use all light pastel lines.  I think I like the more contrasting lines better.

Most of the lines were multiple blind contour drawings of the same pose.