A Birthday Art Haul & Oil Sticks First Impressions: R&F Pigment Sticks, Sennelier & W&N Oilbars

[@GreenSharpieScience]

Happy birthday! I started using them about a year ago and they’re so much fun! One tip Ive found very useful is to keep the oil sticks in an air tight glass container. Since they’re ridiculously expensive it always seems a waste to let a thick skin develop on them. Keeping them in an air tight container keeps them wet longer and keeps them from rolling away.

[@helencryer]

I'm happy to hear you like them! Thanks for the tip! I'm wondering if I can make my current tub more airtight by putting foam in the lid gap!

[@GreenSharpieScience]

@@helencryer I think it will depend on the type of foam, some foams are porous, cling film/plastic wrap may work better if the foam doesn’t. I’m using a rubber aide glassware container it’s worked really well.

[@helencryer]

Thanks!

[@fontainerouge]

​@@helencryer Yes, you can. Also, the more it is filled up the less oxygen the less oxydation.

[@loramay21]

I love oil sticks and oil pastels and the best thing to do is swatch them as they get dirty quickly and you won't know which one is which

[@templemoore3799]

Oh Helen I hope you had a lovely Birthday week & wind in your sails. 💐😎⛵️ These looked yummy. And you have a nice pallet there. I luv how you go all in when you dive into something new 💪 I’m not afraid of messy, but don’t haven’t the energy for it all…so better you than me 😉That R&F Stil de grain was luminous on the test panel. Look forward to your new creations when you return 👋💜👋

[@helencryer]

I really did - thank you so much! I'm a bit all or nothing about everything I'm afraid!

[@jlhyndman]

You have a great selection of colors to work with Helen! I can’t wait to see more work to come. Lovely. ❤ and HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎉

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@Samantha_tookey197]

Happy birthday 🎉 those sticks look such good fun!

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@ccsullivan_writer]

Happy Birthday! Thanks for all your videos 😊

[@helencryer]

Thank you!

[@ladyamalthea85]

Looks like a lot of fun!

[@pastelsgirl]

Wishing you an early and happy birthday, Helen! 🎉 Interesting haul, messy, but fun to watch. I don’t use oil paints, or bars, or sticks, except maybe, sometimes, the regular oil pastels for some mark making in mixed media pieces. That said, some time ago, I attended an encaustic monotype workshop in my area. We used some of these R&F oil bars to “draw” on a hot plate, mixing them directly on the surface of the hot plate, and then printing the design on paper - very similar to gelli plate mono printing. Oh, that was so much fun!! Thankfully, all the materials and equipment were provided, so I only got to take home my own “creations”, beautiful abstract designs that I can subsequently use as backgrounds, or collage pieces, cards, etc. Can’t wait to see what you make next! Thank you! I always enjoy your content ❤

[@helencryer]

That sounds like great fun! I've not really seen much about encaustic art, and probably shouldn't get into it! Thanks ever so much!

[@pastelsgirl]

@@helencryer I don’t want to go into encaustic either, all that investment in a new territory, buying all new materials… but a workshop where all the materials and equipment were provided by the instructor, and where students just got to experiment and have fun! 🤩 I was curious and I thought it was absolutely worth the money and the time spent. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience!

[@helencryer]

Sounds ideal! I may take a little peep at some encaustic art videos!

[@colleenmcchesney1482]

Wishing you a wonderful Happy Birthday 🎊 Helen! Wow that looks amazing & lots of fun. Definitely a glove wearing medium to play with. 😊 I am going to have to check out this new medium. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. Enjoy your trip & celebration 🥳!!

[@helencryer]

Thanks ever so much!

[@kimbranson3374]

Birthday Blessings to you, Helen 🥳 What a fun haul 😃

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@floralheart]

Wishes for a Happy Birthday ! 🎂Fingers crossed for your competition. I've tried oils in the past, but we didn't get along very well. I think you stared very well; those paints are pretty. Thank you for sharing your gifts!

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@dustydesert1674]

That was fun to watch. Love the earth colors. Happy Birthday, Helen! 🎉

[@helencryer]

Thank you!! Yes they're gorgeous!

[@KerryAA7130]

Early Happy Birthday 🎂 Helen 🎉, hope you have a wonderful day xx . Those oil bars look extremely creamy and buttery xx

[@helencryer]

Thanks! I have a feeling I'll be having a very wet, tiring and exhilarating day!!

[@KerryAA7130]

@@helencryertake care xx

[@reneeugrin7037]

What a treat to enjoy for your birthday 💐 Have a happy one 🎉

[@helencryer]

Thank you so much!

[@susanorban3059]

What a fun medium to work with! Can you spray an oil fixative on it to harden it when done? Thanks for another great video and have a very Happy Birthday!🎉❤

[@helencryer]

It will dry completely in the same way that oil paint does. Thanks!

[@selmag5819]

happy birthday, dear Helen! i wish you a long, healthy and happy new year.

[@helencryer]

Haha, thank you so much!!

[@ChantelleArts]

what a stunning haul, really inspiring ☺☺

[@jude6752]

Happy Birthday! I hope your sailing went well with the weather 🥰 Well, I know what I don't need to spend my $$ on 🤣 Oil pastels are as messy as I want - I am glad I saw you use these, and they answered questions for me! Glad you had fun with them!

[@helencryer]

Thanks! Sailing was brill! Glad you can rule some art materials out!!

[@tdelphia1]

Oh wow...I just looked up the R&F sticks here in the US and 😳 I hadn't thought anything could be costlier than Terry Ludwig soft pastels lol! Art supplies for ourselves are an amazing birthday present 😊

[@helencryer]

Yes, I think they're pretty comparable with high end oil paints in 40ml tubes, like Michael Harding.

[@FaithAnnNB]

What a wonderful birthday gift… happy birthday!! Haha… WAY too messy for me, but I love watching others use the messy stuff. Can’t wait to see what you create 😊.

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@lisaharner3720]

Happy Birthday, Helen! Hope you enjoy your day! Those sticks look very messy, as you said. I’ll be interested to see what you create with them. I’ve never tried oil paints and I’m not sure I would try these. I’ll live vicariously through you with them! I love that you jump into trying new things. ❤🎂🎉

[@helencryer]

Thanks so much! I'm slightly nervous about what I'll create too 😁

[@nancyloomis3046]

Happy Birthday Helen! 🎉🎉🎉 I watched this vid the whole way through. I like oil sticks and have used them some and wanted to see how you would use them and what you thought. I have the Jack Richeson & Shiva brand's along with a couple of the mini sets of R&F. The R&F are def the priciest & most luxurious of what I have but not sure how they compare in price to Sennelier. The quality of R&F sticks is tops and they're highly pigmented. They're also popular for use with wax for encaustic painting. R&F also makes hard color blocks...these are made primarily for encaustic painting & must be melted and/or mixed with wax to use the color . They're very expensive and not for casual use...unless you've just got money to burn. For the WN oil bars, it does seem that they've been discontinued. I think that art supply manufacturers are discontinuing/reducing lines of their slower or less popular sellers due to the high cost of just about everything these days. I've noticed in almost every brick & mortar store I go to these days, especially for art supplies, that the shelves are much more lightly stocked and there is less to choose from than before all the lock downs & closures of the pandemic. And now bc people are back to their lives, they're just not buying as much of the arts & crafts supplies that became so popular during Covid. Wishing you much successful & fun creating. 🎨🖌️🖼️😊

[@helencryer]

Good grief - you deserve a medal!! Thanks! It's good to hear your thoughts on the subject - I'm not very familiar at all with encaustic art, which is good I guess! Makes sense about the suppliers too.

[@teekierudite5108]

Happy early Birthday Helen! I hope you have another wonderful year ahead of you and a fun competition as well. I always like seeing you enjoy playing with your paint. It's sort of reminiscent of a child playing with their food, but they're allowed to. The combined two pictures look like a view out of a window, maybe getting close to sunset. The orange sun hitting the ground but the sky is still blue, slowly turning orange. Looks beautiful. Keep up the wonderful work!

[@helencryer]

Thanks ever so much! Ha - I like the playing with their food analogy!! It's definitely not any more sophisticated than that!

[@HiThereHeyThere]

Look forward to seeing some paintings made with these sticks 😍

[@helencryer]

I really need to get them out again! I've been away a lot lately, so hopefully will have some more time for them soon.

[@TheFeralGoatCreative]

Happy Birthday 🎉

[@ndadaboy]

Happy Birthday from a fellow Taurus. I love your channel, it's very soothing to see you paint before I go to bed. 🤗

[@helencryer]

Thanks ever so much!

[@Flora-v6u]

Happy birthday Helen 🍾 - good luck in the competition ⛵️ That was great fun to watch! I’m totally one of the people who was cringing at the mess but, oh! The loveliness of those blended colours makes the mess totally worthwhile! Just gorgeous! Something for me to think about in the future perhaps. Buying the R&F blending stick to work with the sennelier colours might be a cheaper way to get into it. Also, love how the Sennelier stick looked like a giant lipstick! 😀. Enjoy them & thanks for sharing 😊

[@helencryer]

Thanks so much! I think Sennelier do a blending stick too.

[@thefrostedblueberryart]

Fig me, you weren’t joking Helen at the cost of them there oily sticks!!! They do look luscious texture and pigment pay off wise, a very special birthday treat indeed. Happy birthday!

[@helencryer]

I know 😬 I guess they're pretty comparable with 40ml artist quality oil paint tubes. Thanks!

[@ApBarr345]

Happy birthday! Today is my birthday. Look forward to see what you do with these supplies. Love your vjdeos

[@ApBarr345]

Ah! Finger painting! Awesome! 😍

[@helencryer]

Happy Birthday!! 🎈 I hope you're enjoying a lovely day! Thank you!

[@andreabrown8551]

Happy Birthday Helen 🎉. A fun to watch swatch and play. The colours and the way they blend are beautiful however, when you said some of us maybe thinking they are way too messy, I had just thought that they wouldn’t be a medium I would add to my art supplies. 😆 I’m trying to get that smooth blended effect with my abstracts using acrylic. It’s fun to see how the different mediums give varied effects and would be interested to see how you use each one to see the blending of colour, tone and textures they each have compared to one another. Just a thought. Looking forward to seeing you work with these in your beautiful art 😍🙏🏻😍 Have a fabulous birthday week 🥳🤗🥳

[@helencryer]

Thanks ever so much! I've never really tried to do much blending with acrylics - not much of my art seems to use blending.

[@JessicaCEP]

This looks very fun! And I love the color of the 2nd painting. Is that the earth color set?

[@helencryer]

Yes, I used all of the Earth Tones set for it.

[@craftykat]

Happy birthday, Helen! Those are gorgeous!

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@20kg0881]

Happy Birthday🎉 This is NOT my medium of choice, but I enjoy watching you play with them😊

[@helencryer]

Haha! Thanks!!

[@kazmichelle1535]

Aaww Helen - happy birthday for next week - its my birthday next week too and im also picking out some art stuff as gifts - oil sticks are great fun but im still getting to know them - didnt know about the blending stick though ❤

[@helencryer]

Happy Birthday to you too! I hope you choose some exciting things!!

[@lizhart81]

🎉Happy Birthday! I would create such a disaster with those - I'm bad enough with oil/soft pastels. They do look like such a lot of fun, though! Imagine just going wild on a massive canvas. I had a look on Jackson's at the open stock R&F sticks out of interest, and they're definitely an investment! As always, I'm most drawn to the rich jewel tones in the upper price series. Why can't I just love earth tones 😂? It's not something that I'd purchase as a hobby artist, but for a professional artist, I can see how they would be amazing to work with, such rich silky pigments.

[@helencryer]

Thanks! Yep, it's good to understand how we each work and what works for us!

[@akschauer]

Happy birthday, Helen! What a wonderful birthday present for yourself. I've been curious about the oil pigment stick, but they are very pricey. Loved seeing you play with them!

[@helencryer]

Thank you! Yes - I'd really better use them now!!

[@InkNSap]

Happy birthday Helen!! I would love to try oil bars when I have my home studio set up 😊. They are so expensive yes!! Sennelier has some more affordable… oh you did get some!

[@helencryer]

Haha, yes! Thanks!!

[@oraweetaphianthong877]

Curious... I saw something very similar to the R&F oil sticks on Taobao. It's similar in design and packaging, same 38ml amount and there a transparent stick for blend too. It's made by a Chinese company so it's much cheaper, of course. But R&F is made in USA, so surely they can't be the same thing... 🤔 That aside, I very much enjoyed your video. You have provide great information about this interesting medium. Your sample paintings, despite being just shapeless colours, were so beautiful! I just like looking a colours artfully arranged together.

[@helencryer]

Interesting! If they're artist quality then that's great! Thanks so much!

[@kfrost6036]

They look great fun, albeit somewhat messy! I hope you enjoy using them.. I’ve recently watched some of Andrew Barrowman’s videos where he uses oil sticks plein air, wonder if you’ve seen them too. Hope you enjoy your birthday and have a safe sailing trip.

[@helencryer]

I've not - thank you, will look him up! Thanks so much!

[@beatricenowell8207]

Happy forthcoming Birthday!🥳🎂🎉 I hope you fair well during the sailing competition. Although you purchased different brands, the range of colors are excellent. Incredibly you didn't receive duplicates. I'm unsure about the mess but they appeared to lay-down so smoothly, with the aid of the R&F Blending stick, that I'm tempted to try them. I cringed whilst watching you use them.

[@helencryer]

Thanks so much!! I'm pretty happy with the colours! The R&F, and Sennelier didn't really need the blending stick, but it will be useful with the Oilbars.

[@scottcullen2832]

I’m intrigued, if scared of the mess 😂😂😂, once dry on the paper/substrate are they fixed or do you have to seal them?

[@helencryer]

I think you are wise to be scared! Even I underestimated the disaster level of the unwrapping! They are fixed when dry, in the same way as oil paints. I guess you can varnish them as you would those.

[@moonchaserstudio]

Happy birthday! Mine was in this month. My husband took me on a shopping spree to Blick. It was wonderful!

[@helencryer]

Happy Birthday too!!! 🎈That sounds absolutely delightful!

[@ericakauffman5786]

Happy Birthday! Tell us how long it takes for them to dry. You make it look like play time!

[@helencryer]

Thanks! So far (one day on) the R&F's are still wet, and the Senneliers are touch dry.

[@zenlife1200]

I don't think I'll be trying those anytime soon, too messy and sensory annoying, but they're a perfect medium for you Helen. I can't wait to see what you create with them. On another note, I googled Bromley because I thought their catalogue looked interesting, and it's available to download for free. So I did. I don't have access to all of the brands you get and it's interesting to see what I might be missing out on, especially in the watercolors. It looks like they would send things to me but the cheapest, under 3kg postage would cost me nearly $63 New Zealand dollars (£29.89) . I'd have to buy a lot to justify that postage. Happy birthday for next week 🥳 Enjoy your sailing, I used to enjoy it when we had a 16ft trailer sailor before we had kids. I met my hubby when I was a sea cadet, a long time ago.

[@helencryer]

Oh, that's great it's downloadable too! (Not the postage though!) Thanks! I don't sail much - I just do this one annual competition where a lot of the fire brigades from around the UK each rent an 8 berth yacht, and we do about 4 races a day for a few days, and have great social events in the evenings. Luckily, my old fire brigade (I was a firefighter) from where I used to live still let me sail with them!

[@jessbutterfly1934]

❤️❤️🎊🇦🇺 happy birthday🎉

[@helencryer]

Thank you!!

[@TerriChannel]

Happy Birthday, Helen! 🎉I hope you have a wonderful time with your sailing competition next week! These are beautiful but too messy for me. I will love seeing what you create with them though. I have heard of R&F with their encaustic sticks but wow the price put me off going into that form of artwork. I hope you really enjoy these!!

[@helencryer]

Thank you!! I have heard of encaustic art, but know extremely little about it, and it should probably stay that way!

[@ellingtonthorpe]

I’d like to see a gel plate video x

[@nanamiss1793]

We wish you a very happy birthday 🎁🎂🎊 and keep pure and healthy forever 🫶💐🌅

[@helencryer]

That's so sweet - thank you!!

[@helenag.9386]

I am always covered in paint or mud or something so the oil bars are no problem for me to watch! I wouldn't bother with gloves either!

[@helencryer]

Haha - brill!

[@susananielsen8911]

Do you the landscape artist Andrew Barrowman and his video Channel? You can see him use oil sticks there.

[@helencryer]

Someone else recommended him too - I will look him up - thank you!

[@hansendesigns]

I’ve only seen the oil sticks used when the artists had canvases that were big like 6 foot plus. Used for mark making over a painting. I’ve never seen anyone worry about removing a skin. :)

[@helencryer]

I came across a few smaller works, and skin worriers, so was duely influenced!

[@sirmascopchanova4657]

Happy Birthday, Helen! Nice choice of a present. 😊 I like the idea of oil sticks, but I am sure they are not for me. They are very messy, and it is quite a waste of material when they dry, which will happen definitely for me, as I don’t draw as often as I wish to.

[@helencryer]

Thank you so much! I'm sure plenty of people wouldn't really like them - probably why I am coming to them later rather than sooner - they aren't seen around as much.

[@marionwigzell7334]

Hi Helen. If you’re interested Sennelier Mondays Live on KZbin have some oil stick demos (-: Marion

[@helencryer]

Thank you Marion!!

[@HiThereHeyThere]

Helen: i dont have a plan 24:15: look mountian sunset scene 😀 Me: artists are neat 😶

[@helencryer]

😂❤️

[@awatercolourist]

I’ll just give myself a medal 🥇 😂

[@helencryer]

Don't get too blasé though... you never know when the medal criteria might change 😁

[@awatercolourist]

@@helencryer 🤣🤣

[@pastelsgirl]

Both you and @helencryer made my day!! Love to you both ❤

[@awatercolourist]

@@pastelsgirl Right back at you! Have a lovely weekend 😃.

[@Hammertoez]

Yep those oil sticks are not for me, the mess made my skin crawl but I love the look of what you can do with them!

[@helencryer]

Haha, sorry! Yep, They're so loose and lovely!

[@WolfmanWoody]

I'm cringing not at the messy-ness of them, but the price! Are you sure you wouldn't prefer diamonds for your birthday? Might save your husband a few quid. 😂 As I've said before, when it's your only hobby then by all means treat yourself. But this is like me buying a Gary Mills Centrepin Reel; all very nice, but far too expensive when cheaper ones are just as useable if not far better in some cases. Have a nice birthday, though it seems like every week is Christmas for you. 😂 PS: I do say this in jest. Please don't take it as a serious criticism. I just had to hide from my wife the fact I'd bought a £28 set of F-C colouring pencils. She'd kill me otherwise.

[@helencryer]

Definitely not diamonds! Yes, I'm very lucky, plus I had a huge craft clear out on eBay recently (a lot was die cutters and things I received for free from being on Design Teams etc. from over the last 18 years!) So that contributed. I'm lucky too, that now KZbin covers all my art shopping. I hope your wife grows to value the things you love!!

[@judygarcia3286]

To not have waste I would put in refrigerator for ten minutes 😎

[@helencryer]

The waste comes because the outer layers have dried out though, not because they have melted a bit, so I'm not sure how putting them in the fridge would help, as you would still need to remove the dried out layer?

[@zf80521]

I don't like them

[@helencryer]

I imagine lots of people don't.

[@zf80521]

Happy birthday to helen

[@melissamartinart]

SOOO MESSY! They look like a lot of fun! Happy Birthday & happy sailing! 🤗💖✨

[@helencryer]

Yep!! Thanks ever so much!