Oil pastels: 7×5
Stonehenge Vellum finish paper
My second study on this floral arrangement as I continue to explore the use of soft, hard and lost/found edges. This time I used a Gouache underpainting to give some depth to the greenery – it left a matted finish which didn’t interfere when layers of oil pastels were applied.
A couple of petals could be changed and probably less of the yellow-green in the foreground of the arrangement, but I’m getting a feel for painting floral arrangements in a looser style. It’s progress, but still a lot more learning ahead.
Oil Pastels by Mary 
I love the bold colors yet the soft overall feel!
Thanks Mamie!
I love how you change subjects to work with. I actually really like this.
Hi Emily, so nice to hear from you – hope you’re well. Thank you very much for commenting – I’m trying to stretch a bit and try out some new subjects, flower arrangements have turned into quite a challenge.
An interesting impressionistic take!
Hi Elena, thanks very much. I feel like such a fish out of water with these flower arrangements, it’s going to take a while to get comfortable.
I like this version better. I think it’s more balanced.
Thanks Francesca – painting these flower arrangements are so foreign to me, I’m sure they’ll come easier over time.
Great blog you have,nice to meet you ,EM
Thank you very much EM!
Very nice, Mary!!! 😀
Thanks Cha!
Wow, awesome!!!
Thank you Rexlin, much appreciated!
Love this. Has great energy!
Thank you!
Looks perfect to me! 🙂
You are so kind, thank you very much!
Your floral arrangement is beautiful Mary. I too am working in this area and really need to study more in depth than I have been. Are you working from life? I think if I did, it would help me a great deal. One of these days I will treat myself to a bouquet of flowers. 🙂
Thanks Rhonda – my first flower arrangement studies, I have a long ways to go in technique and comfort level. It’s so different than painting one or two flowers, not good or bad, just different. These studies were from a combination of images, I’ll be working on real life arrangements in later paintings. Your florals are beautiful btw!
Beautiful. I remember having some pastels as a child of about 10 when I was having art lessons; what kind of pastels I can’t remember. But I liked them.
Thanks very much, nice to have good childhood memories especially when art brings them on ~
It’s beautiful! Interesting you use gouache as the under painting ! I envy your ability to stay so focused. I have ADD thus can be all over the map! I rarely, if ever as I think about it, have worked a piece at a time! Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks Linda – I’m not particularly happy with the results of these flower arrangement studies, but the exercise allowed me to analyze using watercolor paper w/o applying gesso and try out gouache. I liked gouache as an underpainting, it gave a nice coverage like acrylics only a flat finish so as not to interfere with oil pastels.