An Experimental Session with R&F Pigment Sticks, Sennelier Oil Sticks and Winsor & Newton Oilbars

[@cola6986]

Really enjoyed chilling out and watching you use your new Oil sticks. Loved all three pieces of work and look forward to seeing some more. What a great birthday pressie! Thanks for sharing Helen

[@helencryer]

Thanks ever so much!

[@teekierudite5108]

Absolutely love the first painting, it really does look like an oil painting. Gorgeous sunset overlooking the water, just stunning. It's really nice seeing you play with the different brands, seeing how they work together. Keep up the wonderful work!

[@helencryer]

Thanks so much! There's very little difference with these and oil paints at all.

[@Samantha_tookey197]

Loved this video! The first picture is absolutely gorgeous, they all are but that one in particular xx

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@nellgilmour5388]

What a joy to watch. You're fearless in your approach! Thanks

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@lisaharner3720]

I loved watching you work with this medium. You’re so talented and I admire how you jump into new opportunities! This one lends itself well to your loose flowing style! ❤

[@helencryer]

That's really kind - thanks!

[@blankmission5369]

There's a blender stick that you can get with these to use to thin out the pigment. The technique is called glazing with this particular medium. Also you can take a paint brush to the sticks and use them that way too. I have pigment sticks so I watched a video on more info about these particular brand of sticks last week. Lovely experiment. I love the colors you used. ❤

[@helencryer]

Thank you! - yes - I have the R&F, and W&N blender sticks, but didn't use them in this video. I've also tried using a brush - I did a slightly more in depth review in my previous video on these.

[@michaelcarpenter1179]

Thank you. Loved the video. I got some oil sticks to try and watching you paint with them showed me what I can expect! Your painting is wonderful and you make it look pretty darn simple. I appreciate you making the video for everyone.

[@helencryer]

That's really kind - thank you!

[@zenlife1200]

I love watching you use the pastels and oil sticks and things. You seem to have a natural affinity for these mediums.

[@helencryer]

That's lovely - thank you!

[@michelleh9685]

Oh no you've made me want to try another medium Helen, woken the want monster lol. They look really good by the way. Happy birthday & glad to have you back from your sailing safely.

[@helencryer]

Haha, sorry! Thank you!

[@ChantelleArts]

This is brilliant, such a fun technique ☺☺

[@montserratlavid3532]

Wow. Incredible! You are something else. Thank you.

[@helencryer]

Thanks!

[@krispaton8670]

Loved watching this.

[@madebylora]

Love that first one!!!

[@divinegalacticcolors]

I’ve got a set arriving soon and will be doing the same ☺️

[@helencryer]

Exciting!!!

[@colleenmcchesney1482]

Oh wow that was great fun, I love 💕 how the each one is so different with the way you laid down the colors. I love the sunset looking one with the mountains. I’m curious about whether these can be used with oil paints to create additional textures. This is a fascinating new medium for me to see how it is applied. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

[@helencryer]

They can definitely be used with oil paints, plus they themselves can be thinned with anything that oil paint can be, and used with a brush.

[@cindyfromsydney7693]

Look how grotty those sticks have gotten! 😂❤

[@helencryer]

Totally!!!

[@FaithAnnNB]

I love the first one so much… it’s gorgeous! Do you have to change gloves frequently? Or wash them while you’re working so when you use your fingers to blend the darker colours don’t muddy the lighter colours too much?

[@helencryer]

Thanks! Unfortunately this was the least enjoyable one! I didn't change gloves at all. The oil is so soft it's easy to wipe most the colour off onto paper towel, though there's still a little contamination, but I'm not fussed about that.

[@valeriegehling4358]

Quite like results, find the process as you say not suitable for detail works, not a medium I’ll use but, it seems colourful. Thanks

[@helencryer]

They will work fine with brushes too, but I wanted them for expressive mark making, primarily.

[@valeriegehling4358]

@@helencryer Like your willingness to try all mediums! With very good results.

[@weekend_art]

Your use of sticks is already incredible, thank you for sharing! I wanted to ask how are you not annoyed by how chunky they are. I wish Sennelier did all colors in small sticks, like the ones they sell in the test pack

[@helencryer]

Thank you! I bought them with the intention of not using them for detailed work - I want them for abstract mark making really, but I got sucked into being too detailed.

[@weekend_art]

@@helencryer I just learned that Sennelier released new sets of mini-sticks: not for tiny details but might be something to look at

[@helencryer]

Thanks - yes, I saw them! I think the colour selections they have are really nice!

[@DeshArt]

Are they really meant to be used like oil pastels? I thought you could have used a brush with some dissolvant? I'm very uneasy with this medium because it looks like a lot of pigment on the paper but since one layer does not dry quickly, it is hard to layer these. It's like oil pastels but twice as creamy.... So brave of you to go all out with them on the first few tries. And the artwork is loverly!

[@helencryer]

I think so - at least, I've seen ambassadors of R&F use them that way. You definitely can use them with a brush too, but in my opinion you might as well just use oil paint from a tube in that case.

[@beejayem42]

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