Jan 30th, playing with oil pastels and cracking on with the essay...

Had a play with oil pastels; I really like the vibrancy and the freedom that they offer. ...which surprises me because every time I've encountered these, I've hated them but I guess I only ever used them on a small scale and never in this way.

I did some "sketchbook" tests and then moved on to a piece that I had on the wall that I thought I'd finished with.

 

Concentrated on the WACCA essay ..and then came back to this, which is now more in keeping with the small sketch so I feel I've found a way of upscaling paintings in a way that works for me. 

The face on this painting is far from the photograph but I'm not really looking to get a likeness, more of a recognisable (to anyone ) image and a feeling.

I need more black to block in the hair and build the hat more.

The oil pastels are really soft and dense, they remind me of the oil-treated linen on Oscar Murillo's installation Darkness the potential of blossoming light.  there's something really nice about using them as a medium on this image, But I think I like the idea of having a delicate face swamped in a thick heavy hat, hair and shoulders. 

I do like the yellow contrast though...