” Yet still the solitary humble-bee
Sings in the bean-flower! Henceforth I shall know
That Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure ;
No plot so narrow, be but Nature there,
No waste so vacant, but may well employ
Each faculty of sense, and keep the heart
Awake to Love and Beauty ! “
Excerpt from “This Lime-tree Bower my Prison” by Samuel Taylor COLERIDGE, 1797
About the artist
Self-taught, in April 2020, I picked up my box of oil pastels that I had abandoned for many years and took part in challenges on the WETCANVAS website. The people I met there also introduced me to PMP-ART (Paint My Photo), a site where photographers generously share their royalty-free photos. Painting the chosen references and presenting them remains one of my preferences; these exchanges with people driven by the same passion for creation and image have nourished me since November 2023. Thanks to this site, we share our love of art around the world. These wonderful encounters allow me to develop my artistic practice and I can never thank enough all the people I have met on this site.
Still active, I dream of a 48-hour day so I can experiment, paint more, and improve. Captivated by the beauty of nature, I love to capture it in my oil pastel creations. I hope that through my paintings, the sensations and atmospheres will give viewers an emotion that will connect them to nature and its inhabitants…
I have been a member of the Cercle Artistique Decizois (Decizois Artistic Circle) since September 2023, where I took a few oil painting classes with Manuel Cara and dry pastel classes with Samantha Romé. In September 2024, I started taking Olga Vichneva‘s weekly oil painting class. In May 2024, I learned to draw heads and discovered how much I enjoyed working on portraits!
Oil pastels
In 1949, the painter Henri Goetz asked Henri Sennelier to develop a new material for his friend Pablo Picasso, who was looking for a wax-based colored chalk. This collaboration resulted in the “Sennelier Oil Pastel“…
An oil pastel is a stick of color. It consists of pigments mixed with a binder of oil and non-drying wax. Oil pastels are bold and brilliant. The colors of oil pastels adhere to almost any surface and do not need to be fixed, but are difficult to correct and cannot be erased. Blending is quite difficult. They can be painted with turpentine or gasoline, and can also be mixed dry. Oil pastels soften at temperatures above 50°C!
I use Caran d’Ache and Sennelier oil pastels. I would like to expand my knowledge of other brands… To be continued!