Luna moth and flowers in oil pastels

Art Completed Projects
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I’m now officially on a luna moth kick, inspired by @curiousfae’s moth ATC swap theme.

I’m participanting in the library’s “art studio/art of illustration” program for the second time.

Each week, we look at a picture book illustrator’s art, and use it as inspiration to create art in the same style and/or using the same medium.

This week the medium was oil pastels, and I made 2 pictures:

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This week I learned… don’t sign your name using the oil pastels… especially if it’s a very small picture, lol!

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The Luna moth is lovely. I love how you got the shimmer of the stars behind it.
Who was the illustrator? That sounds like a fun program at the library!

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I love the look of vivid color on black! Don’t think I’ve done oil pastels since high school art class. I recall them being challenging to work with. (Smearing very easily, for example.) You’ve done a lovely job with them. Sounds like a really fun program through your library!

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This is beautiful; your technique makes the moth look fuzzy! Absolutely stunning

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I love the texture and bright colors! Wonderful work.

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Thank you everyone for your kind words! I am so grateful for this website and for how supportive and encouraging everyone is. It makes me want to create more and more :heart:

Thank you! I used the tips I got from the other thread for getting the shimmer with he acrylics, and applied it here, with the oil pastels. It worked well to gently rub the dots with my finger.

This past week, the illustrator was Mies Van Hout, from the Netherlands. The program facilitator started by showing us the book “Happy,” which features fish portraying various emotions. They are drawn with oil pastels on a black background. That inspired me to create another luna moth, because now I think "black = black sky = night = luna moth :joy:

Here’s her website: https://www.miesvanhout.nl/

I agree; they really are challenging to work with. They’re not my favourite medium, but I like it for messing about once in a while. They wouldn’t be my first choice for illustrations/drawings, etc. I prefer media that doesn’t necessarily have to be sealed. I think I’m more and more leaning towards mixed media (using mostly acrylic, collage, and ink) as my medium of choice.

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The moth is gorgeous!

Oil pastels frighten me. Gotta be honest.

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Thank you :heart:

They’re definitely not a medium I would use frequently, but experimenting once in a while is OK for me. I have some at home but I think I’ve only used them a total of about 3 times since I acquired them a good 3 years ago, lol!