Summer fun in the Algarve - Oil Pastel painting demo by Lena Rivo

[@brennakohlhase4194]

You are the backlighting queen!!❤ so beautiful! Thank you

[@ew3594]

I've just started using oil pastels and it's fascinating how you layer the colours. The way this picture comes together is like magic, thanks for sharing!

[@melindabythesea4272]

Lena you continually amaze me. This is incredible.

[@veracorreia4772]

A luz de Portugal, dura forte e encandeante, inigualável e tão bem capturada nas suas obras!!! Perfeito❤ Obrigada por partilhar

[@craftykat]

Wow! This is so beautiful, and you make it look so easy.

[@creativesolutionsart-h3o]

That is a super cool painting! How you captured the light and the movement in the atmosphere, wonderful!

[@LenaRivo]

Thank you so much 😊

[@carolbenavidez2228]

Absolutely magical! 💖

[@artbykcappadona5166]

Amazing work, Lena

[@LenaRivo]

Thank you! 😊

[@Ran_G]

thank you

[@francescogurrieri7537]

Bellissimo ottimo lavoro la resa della luce è perfetta, sinceri complimenti.

[@lenitaashton8146]

Amazing!!! Bravo!!!❤

[@TerryElrodAB]

Wow!

[@craigseaborn4222]

really beautiful work Ms Rivo

[@LenaRivo]

Thank you! 😊

[@levserikov2757]

Viva Lena! Vivo Rivo ))

[@LenaRivo]

😆

[@creampug701]

Insane

[@IsaChen-uy8br]

Hi Lena! I'm so glad I found your channel. It's not easy to find artworks in oil pastel that are as beautiful as yours - I love how your oil pastel artworks are both realistic to the subject but with some abstractions. The color harmonies are incredible. I am completely new to oil pastels and bought the expensive Caran d'Ache set for plein air sketching/painting as there are times when I simply don't want to work with a wet medium (which requires a pochade box). I was wondering if you have already tried to do oil patels in plein air? I had thought to remove all the wrapping from the pastels (as you suggest) and dump them in a fanny pack with some paper filler/tissue to protect them - and like that it should be possible to stand with a sketch pad and draw. I suppose the only way to know for sure is to try this myself -but I was hoping you'd have some thoughts around this, or if you have tried it yourself? Thanks for your brilliant guides and the wonderful story of the swan at the end.

[@LenaRivo]

Hi Isa! Thank you for your kind words. I am glad to hear that my art resonates with you :) From your words, I understand that you think that plein air painting is more simple and easier than it really is :) If you tried to take your pastels outdoors and paint something with them you would quickly realized that you didn’t have any of the colors that you needed. Even the full set of Neopastels is not enough to make a plein air painting look true to life because it doesn’t have enough light and muted colors. I have made a few sketches from my studio window and it worked well, but I was using my full palette of oil pastels that includes the full sets of Neopastel, Mungyo, Hwawon and Holbein Artist oil pastels. You can imagine that taking all my three boxes to paint outdoors is not that convenient. I would need to sit with them somewhere on a grass. I wouldn’t be able to sketch something standing. For this reason, I don’t find oil pastels a good medium for plein air painting. Gouache is much more efficient. With pastels I need to layer colors to achieve the color I need, while with gouache I can mix the right color in a few seconds. Therefore, oil pastel is a studio medium for me. I hope this helps. Regardless of what I have just said, I think it’s worth trying. Maybe oil pastel will work for you as a plein air medium 😉

[@IsaChen-uy8br]

@@LenaRivo Haha oh dear! I was too optimistic! Maybe I'll have to try and find creative ways around the limitations and be a bit imaginative with the color choices and concede that I may only be able to do warm/cool tonal studies plein air. Not sure, I'll have to try and see. Thank you so much for your insights, it's good to know the limitations and will prevent frustration on my part when I do go out and realise I can't get the colours I want.