Oil/Water Soluble Pastels – Studio Exploration

Brands & Quality

There is not a large variation in brand and quality for Oil/Water Soluble Pastels, which is why this medium is suitable for all ages. Cheaper Oil/Water Soluble Pastels blend nicely even in comparison to more expensive pastels.

Low Quality/Student Grade

Charvin Water-Soluble Pastel Painting Sticks Set
Reeves Watersoluble Wax Pastel Set
Artists Loft Oil Pastels
Van Gogh Student Oil Pastels – Not Creamy or easy to work with

Medium

Mungyo Water-Soluble Oil Pastel Set ***Good quality in comparison to higher quality pastels***
Portfolio Series Watersoluble Oil Pastel Set – ***Very good for the price***

High Quality

Sennelier Oil Pastels
Prismacolor NuPastel Color Stick Set
Holbein Soft Pastels Cardboard Box Set

Age Appropriateness

All ages:

Lower quality for younger inexperienced students and higher quality for older experienced students.

However, I would shy away from spending money on the more expensive brands. The cheaper pastels are very good quality, especially for the price.

Additional Resources to Consider

Tools

Paint brushes, Q tips and paper towels for blending
Scrapers – for subtraction
Color shapers – used for shaping clay, but are good for blending, making sharp lines and edges – the rubber edge makes it easy to clean
Paper blenders – cheap and easy to use
Palette knife and gel medium – to transform the water soluble oil pastels into a paste

Keep in mind the surface and quality of paper used – watercolor cold pressed

Other surfaces include: Metal, wood and resin

Art preservation

Use of gesso before. Acrylic medium or a form of varnish after.

Made with Portfolio Series Water-soluble Oil Pastels

Limitations

With every medium:

Toxicity should be recognized and adequately dealt with. The quality will increase with price and amount of color pigments. Although cheaper pastels are good quality.

Water soluble oil pastels can be messy.

Strengths

Cost
Quality – even with student grade
Bold and vivid colors
Blending techniques/Versatile nature: acts like water color when water is used, acts like oil pastels when water is not used. It can be transformed into a paste. It can be added and subtracted using the right tools.
In addition it is compatible with other media, such as acrylic paint. Acrylic paint, gesso, and acrylic medium can be used to blend the Oil/Water Soluble Pastels.
Can be used on a multitude of surfaces: paper, wood, metal, resin

Personal Comfort Level

To be honest, I have very little experience with Oil/Water Soluble Pastels, although I definitely enjoyed using and experimenting with this medium. I think Oil/Water Soluble Pastels would be a good additional to almost any curriculum.