This blog is no longer active. I hope to get back to it someday. Please enjoy the interviews with the great artists here. I hope it helps!

Julia

Gail Higginbotham

Last Light




















Chop Sticks




















Blue Vase












Assateague Clouds


After a brief reprieve I'm back with an artist feature that I'm sure you will enjoy. I tried to get Gail Higginbotham to contribute around Christmas but she was busy working on updating her website. Lucky for us she wrote me back ready to contribute and had added many new works to her site. Like Susan Bennerstrom, a previous artist featured, she uses Caran D’Arche Neopastels and mainly uses paper towels and fingers to blend. I also think its interesting that she uses printmaking paper. I have personally found it to be a really a great surface for OP. She is an expert at capturing light and shadow and the first Artwork posted above inspired me immensely when I first became interested in OP. She states on her website that she is inspired by Wolf Kahn, Manet and Cezanne. She is a member of the Oil Pastel Society and has received many awards. I personally am excited by her new abstract works and have included one above. Gail is very multi-faceted, painting portraits, figures, still lifes, abstracts and landscapes. Please check out her website www.http://redcedarstudio.com and read below a brief history and experiences she has with OP.
Thank You Gail!



Eight years ago, I purchased my first set of 24 Caran D’Arche Neopastels. Prior to stumbling across this new medium, I enjoyed oils and soft pastels until their dust affected my breathing. After several years, first with Sennelier then Holbein pastels, I have resumed my attraction to Neopastels.

How exciting to receive my order from Dick Blick of 96 Neopastels, to explore the extended color choices offered in my new large set. In my experience, many pastels blended together create a rich depth of color even though I lose track of which colors I applied. My paper choice is Stongehenge printing paper due to it's heavy weight which can withstand my blending and scraping while offering a smooth surface. I have tried thinners and mediums without success and rely primarily on paper towels and fingers for blending. My favorite tool is an old credit card. The thick plastic straight edge is perfect for scraping out mistakes, making straight lines, scratching through colors.

Without the good fortune of studying with other oil pastelists in my area, I am self taught. I find oil pastel a wonderful versatile medium for winding my way through realism into abstraction. I also enjoy oil pastels for their easy portability. I like my work matted; the white mat adds a dimension to a piece. I have been known to cut artwork into several pieces if not satisfied with the initial product.

Diane Fliehler

I didn't label the following work by fellow classmate Diane Fliehler as student work. Although she hasn't shown her work professionally I have had the privilege of viewing a large part of her collection and she is one of the best oil pastelist around. Diane is on the brink that talented artists get to when they are ready to burst on the scene and start professionally showing their work. She originally was a student of George Shipperley. Under his tutelage she learned how to use oil pastel in an expressive, immediate way. I have been painting beside her in three classes taught by Carol Zack, who has been one of her biggest fans. Using bold color and scraping techniques she has been known to create quite a stir, attacking the canvas in an aggressive manner. She has contributed a paragraph or two on how she first became interested in OP that I posted below her work. Thanks Diane! Please enjoy the works by this fresh abstract colorist.

My husband and I were attending an art event and we both greatly admired George Shipperley's work in oil pastel. We were surprised to discover that he was teaching at a local art school. I signed up immediately and since then have considered myself fortunate to study with a very talented artist as well as, a gifted teacher. I have grown much as an artist with George's constant encouragement for which I am truly grateful.

I feel I am just now on the brink of discovery. I'm not sure what I will discover and hope that I will always feel this way.

I apply Holbein Oil Pastels to the surface (usually matt board) and use Liquin and Tupenoid mediums. With a razor blade, I scrape through many layers of oil pastel and find myself surprised by the results. I react to what I see before me, sometimes adding more oil pastel or more medium. I paint with the razor blade as though it is a palette knife. I enjoy my interaction with the oil pastels letting them take the lead. Sometimes, this dance is serendipity.

Diane Fliehler

Student Artwork by Susan Bell

I have coerced my fellow classmate Susan Bell to let me post a few of her paintings from our OP class together. I think I will try and get more student work on this blog. I think its beneficial to see progress and get a little insight into how each individual approaches Oil Pastel. What better way to learn, through the journey of others. Susan's work in OP is getting better all the time and its fun too see how we progress together. I also asked her to write a little about her experience. I have posted it below. Thanks Susan!



















River














Apostle Island Sheds














Flowers


Several years ago I had a couple of surgeries close to one another and was cooped up in the house. I started to paint with oils and acrylics on canvas, very large and abstract works. After a couple of years of experimenting, I decided that I needed some instruction. There was an oil pastel class offered at a school near my home, so I signed up. I've learned quite a bit in the last six months in this medium. I'm still trying to find my way with the materials. I'm trying every kind of paper that I can lay my hands on, and finding myself grabbing the Holbein pastels over the others right now, they seem to layer on really well. What I enjoy the most is seeing what the other students in the class are doing with their pastels, it is a real learning experience! I've seen people do amazing work with oil pastels. I'm inspired and motivated by what I see, so I believe that I'll continue to work in this medium for some time to come.
Susan B

Stephanie Neely

Cinnabar

Oil Pastel
Stephanie Neely

This time of year many of us start longing for spring and warm weather. It's especially hard for those of us living in the Midwest and upper east coast. When digit's stay in the 20's we long for green grass and perhaps a fresh blooming flower. So It's a pleasure to view Stephanie Neely's beautiful ripe roses in Oil Pastel. Her technique is realistic but very painterly. Some of her work has the look of having been painted in oil and some pieces look as though they were done in watercolor. She uses Senneliers so this could contribute to the more painted look because they are softer and creamier than most OP's. I contacted the artist and she was very gracious and wrote a couple paragraphs about her OP journey (posted below). She also wanted me to feature her flowers on my post because as she said, "They are really the culmination of my journey as an artist and represent my true love in art and in life (aside from my dear husband, of course)". That was fine by me because these were the paintings that I wanted to feature! Her other work is just as masterful. She is a Signature member of The Oil Pastel Society and has won awards and been represented by several galleries. Please check out here website here. I was really impressed with her artist's statement because she does such a good job at articulating her journey of painting and becoming the artist she is.

















Heirloom Roses
















Communion
First Prize Winner
Creative Catalyst Productions Summer Show of 2005, Private Collection


Oil Pastel was probably the last medium I thought I would ever use to create art. I used soft pastels for awhile but could not tolerate the dust, so I went back to watercolor and colored pencil. I was a practicing landscape architect and land surveyor prior to my current career as an attorney, so I am very tight in my drafting and final product. Pencils are really well suited to that goal, but I found that I could not get the rich finish that I wanted. My journey to oil pastels really began as the result of a craft project which called for the use of crayons. I thought that oil pastels might substitute well (they didn't) but it exposed me to the medium and its possibilities.

I use Senneliers exclusively. I have tried almost everything else but Senneliers are perfect for the way I paint. I love the rich colors and buttery texture. If I could have one art wish, it would be for an expanded palette of Sennelier oil pastels. My experience with application of color has been similar to that of Susan Bennerstrom, I often mix many colors to get just the right one (then I forget what I did and am forced to reinvent the wheel). I paint on 140 lb Arch Cold Pressed watercolor paper which I cut off the large rolls. Flowers and plant forms are my preferred subject matter. This may harken back to my days as a landscape designer. I live in North Carolina and make frequent pilgrimages with camera in hand to the arboretum of my alma mater, North Carolina State University, and to the Stowe Botanical Gardens outside Charlotte to capture images for painting. I also planted a large rose garden in the back yard last summer which is the source of many hours of pleasure as well as plants for painting.

The work of Joseph Raffael is my inspiration. I wish I could talk to him about his work because I feel such a kinship with him.



Thank you Stephanie for contributing!
Please feel free to make any comments or contributions to this post.

Red Pair
Oil Pastel on Panel

Susan Bennerstrom

I contacted Susan Bennerstrom recently and asked her if she would contribute a few paragraphs on what brand of OP she uses (and why) and maybe tell me a little more about her technique. She was so great and sent me this bit of info. I'm very happy to share this with you. Thank You Susan!
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It's weird, I keep buying more and more Holbeins and Senneliers because of the great range of gorgeous colors, but always end up using Caran d'Ache Neopastels almost exclusively, and the H's and S's sit there and gather dust. The Neopastels have a very limited color range, so I am forced to mix my own colors on the paper (or gessoed panel), often using as many as 10 crayons to get the color I want. I like that a lot -- it's more interesting, even though it turns out to be almost impossible to replicate a color since I don't keep track of what I've used.

Neopastels differ from Senneliers in that they are much less oily (and somewhat less oily than Holbeins), and therefore easier to control. They are "dryer," and that quality lends itself well to the kind of paintings I make, with defined edges and an overall smoothness in some areas. So Neopastels are my workhorses, and I occasionally use Senneliers and Holbeins for texture, details, and spots of color at the end. It's disastrous when I try to use them for the base layers -- they scoot around and don't adhere properly and goop up in little globs.

I rarely use mediums to mix and smooth out the oil pastels. I prefer instead to really load the pastels onto the paper (or panel) so that the pastels themselves do their own mixing. Those little rubber-ended tools ("clay shapers") are great for mixing in detailed areas, and my own fingers are the best mixing/smoothing tools. But I have found the very best technique for my way of working is to not be shy about how much pastel I put on the paper -- the more I put on, the richer and more subtle the colors get, and the more painterly the surface.

I hope this information helps!
all best,
Susan

Susan Bennerstrom

I admit that I buy a new Edward Hopper calendar every year. I have always been attracted to that spare, atmospheric and rich tonal quality. Susan Bennerstrom style is similar but I would say it has a more intimate quality. I just discovered her work about a month ago during a Internet search for anything related to Oil Pastel. I have to say my heart skipped a beat. This was a connection I was looking for in OP. I didn't think it was possible to create such realism from an OP stick. I have seen many impressionistic and abstract artist making great use of the medium but not many painting in realism. So, it was exciting to see her style. I also thought it would interesting to post this after George Shipperley as it shows a completely different and contrasting style (even down to pastel brand preference). It really does emphasise OP's versatility.
Such Beautiful paintings. She breaks down her work into categories. Stairways, Windows, Beds, Architecture and Light and Outdoors. What really impresses me is how she can create a reflective polished surface with OP as in the painting Studio Hall #4, or how she rarely uses mediums to blend the paint, just Colour Shapers and fingers. She has a very impressive history of exhibitions, teaching and awards. Please checkout her website here. Which, by the way, is an impressively designed site. Also stay tuned for more from this painter. I contacted her and she wrote a few paragraphs about OP that I will post soon!

















Studio Hall #4













Medicine
















Black Stairs