Ship in a storm using Caran D'ache Neopastels

I always like to learn new things and I don't think I have ever used pastels before, not even as a child. These aren't the dusty ones, though, but the Caran D'ache 'Neopastel' oil pastels. I wanted to experiment and learn as much as I could in one go and I created this on the back page of a brand new Strathmore Mixed Media journal because if it turned out to be an eyesore, I didn't want it to be the first thing I saw when I opened the journal! 

I started off without a plan and started stroking the pastels across the bottom of the page, changing colour as I went upwards, still with no idea. When I got to the top, it was then that I got a vague idea for a painting. The good thing about oil pastels is that you can go straight over the top of a previous colour and obliterate it. I hid the top of the painting (which was reds and oranges) with blacks and greys and a bit of blue. 

The Neopastels had shown up the slight graininess in the Mixed Media paper and I didn't like that. I also didn't want to use a thick layer of pastel on my first attempt. I tried smudging with my finger, and didn't like the messiness on my hands or the result. I used a 'Full Blender' which came with my Caran D'ache 'Luminance' pencils and that did the trick, as did the cotton bud, but still... Then I remembered that in my cupboard I had a can of Winsor and Newton's low odour  'Sansodor' solvent (the stash of art stuff I have in my cupboard!😆), and I swept some of that across the paper and magic!, it did the trick. I noticed that the solvent had shown up somewhat on the reverse of the paper but it didn't leach colour through and has now dried out and looks fine. 

I wondered what would happen if I tried to scratch away some areas of the sky to let light through but that wasn't a great success and I gave it up; you can see where I tried it. It would have worked with thicker, more robust paper or if I had put a layer of white pastel down first. Then I attacked the sky with white pastel putting a little into the sky and a lot into the waves, creating the idea of movement. I then started creating downward strokes from the sky with a cotton bud so it looked like rain.

When I had finished making the sea look turbulent and the sky thunderous over a glowing sky I realised I needed a focus, so I drew in a ship using nothing more than a soft graphite pencil.

Now, came the problem of the oil pastels always remaining tacky. Apparently they don't dry out completely. I had thought of gluing in leaves of glassine paper but remembered that I had a can of Ghiant H20 in the cupboard (yep), a water-based low odour varnish for oils and acrylics. I went outside and sprayed the painting lightly, it dried quickly and the art is now smudge-proof. I had seen a number of videos which recommended Sennelier Fixative but as I had the Ghiant already, it was worth trying it out. It's fine.  

And that's it.