Still Life Oil Pastels

7th and 8th grade took their contour drawing to the next level by adding color. Color is a difficult theory to master so we started by experimenting and then added color schemes as needed.


To begin, our students sketched several glass objects from life using a contour line. After they completed their final drawing, they began adding the first layer of oil pastel following the simple rule of "a light color ONLY." Oil pastels, like many paints, work best when combining them from light to dark and this is what we did.


After layer one, each student added layer two and made choices on their own when choosing colors (experimenting with colors to see what colors combined to create what).


For the third layer, they learned about complementary colors, shading, and highlighting in order to give the illusion of a light source and form. We focused on the marks in the oil and blending.


The last two steps included adding a pattern to the background or table and outlining the objects in black.


As you can see, our students did a wonderful job!