Studying Monet's paintings with oil pastels

While browsing Instagram, I came across an artist's page who had done some master studies in oil pastels.

The one that caught my attention the most was a study of a detail of Claude Monet's Water Lillies. I'd always been a bit intimidated with the idea of master studies especially ones done in oils, as it's messy and takes a while to clean up.

This idea to do smaller, and quicker studies in oil pastels seemed really interesting so I decided to try my own study of Monet's Impression, Sunrise.

Impression, Sunrise (1872)

Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926)

Oil on Canvas (48 x 63 cm)

Musée Marmottan Monet

Initially I was a bit intimidated as I haven't used oil pastels much, but once I started it became easier and more fun. The image I used was a bit more saturated that the official photos, but without seeing the painting in person it's harder to grasp the true colours of it.

I found blending the pastels a bit challenging - I used another oil pastel but it wasn't too easy to create a smoother texture. These oil pastels are water soluble so next time I'll try and blend them with water.

The next painting I would like to study is San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk.

It reminds me of swimming in the sea at sunset during the last heatwave - the colours were identical and it instantly reminded me of this painting.

inspired by:

@draw.paint.studio