Yesterday I gessoed a scrap of watercolor 
paper, about 4 by 8 inches, to try an experiment. I have used soft pastel to add detail to oil paintings in the past, and have also at times used oil medium to give special effects to my pastel paintings. The pigments are soluble in oil mediums (they are, after all, exactly the same pigments used in all fine art paints). I wanted to see how it would work to put a thin film of oil medium on a gessoed surface and then paint into it with my pastels.
paper, about 4 by 8 inches, to try an experiment. I have used soft pastel to add detail to oil paintings in the past, and have also at times used oil medium to give special effects to my pastel paintings. The pigments are soluble in oil mediums (they are, after all, exactly the same pigments used in all fine art paints). I wanted to see how it would work to put a thin film of oil medium on a gessoed surface and then paint into it with my pastels.I picked out a few odd slivers of pastels nearly used up. I rubbed the flats over the surface, overlapped and blended edges, drew lines, used my painting knifes to make marks or to press the pigments down-- all kinds of things. It was not a masterpiece of painting, but a freeing up from the constraints of pastels, and an opening up of possibilities. I felt such satisfaction and delight. It makes me want to experiment with more media, look for ways to manipulate paints and pigments with other things in my painting.
Oh my, oh my.
