Oil pastels

This was a first attempt at using oil pastels, guided by members of the RGA (Reading Guild of Artists). My Paris pastels, which were thumb-thick and buttery, turned out to be not pastels at all but oil sticks, which are pure oil paint in a stick form: no wonder they were thick and dense and impossible to blend with a dry rag. But I had bought some small Sennelier pastels from an online auction and they supplied the bright , gorgeous turquoise in the background.

It seems difficult to achieve any degree of subtlety but that is probably my lack of skill and paucity of colour range. They are easy to use, though and not as messy as the chalky pastels - I hope to do more with them.