Workshops & Art

Oil Pastel Blending for Beginners: Three Easy Methods

Oil pastels are the fastest way into colour. Learn three blending methods, a simple sunset exercise, and how to keep finished pieces from smudging.

If watercolour feels unpredictable, start with oil pastels. No water, no brushes, no drying time. You press colour onto paper and it stays where you put it.

Three ways to blend

1. Layer and press. Put down one colour lightly, add a second on top, then go over both with firm pressure. The colours mix under your hand.
2. Finger or tissue. Rub where two colours meet. Use a different finger for each colour family or everything turns grey.
3. A drop of oil. Dip a cotton bud in a tiny amount of baby oil and brush it over the pastel. It melts into something close to paint. Use thick paper for this.

The sunset exercise

1. Draw a yellow band across the middle of a small sheet.
2. Orange above and below it, overlapping the yellow.
3. Pink, then purple, at the outer edges.
4. Blend each border with a fingertip, working from light to dark.
5. Scratch a few thin lines into the colour with a toothpick for birds or grass.

Ten minutes, and it will look good. This is why oil pastel is the medium we hand to nervous beginners first.

Good habits

• Wipe each stick on tissue after use. They pick up other colours.
• Work light to dark.
• Keep wet wipes nearby.
• Tape the edges of your paper for a clean border.

Stopping smudges

Oil pastel never fully dries. Store pieces with a sheet of baking paper on top, or frame them behind glass.

Try this at home, or come and use ours. See what a studio session looks like.