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.
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.