Blog — Jessalyn Claire Studios

Oil pastels are an exciting and versatile art medium. Their convenient versatility can be the aspect of oil pastels that make them confusing to beginners. There are more than a few ways to use oil pastels. Which way is the right way?

The good news is, one of the greatest freedoms in art is that we are not bound to use the mediums in the same way others use them, or for that matter, how they’re intended to be used.

If you can get comfortable with that, then you can have endless success in oil pastel. This post is about making the most of the oil pastel’s ability to be loose, expressive and imperfect. I will introduce you to the benefits of oil pastel in its loose form. At the end of the post you can find the link to an oil pastel tutorial in the style of my children’s book illustrations.

How to: Expressive Oil Pastel Illustrations (in the Style of the Children's Book Little Birder)

Do you want to use oil pastels but don’t know where to start? In this tutorial I will walk you through the steps to illustrate an oil pastel bird (or any subject matter) in the style of my children’s book “Little Birder: A Field Guide to Birds of the Alphabet”. This stye is bright and impactful and makes the most of oil pastel’s appealing qualities, but it does not require perfection or years of mastery and can be painted in a relatively short time.

This is a great place to start your oil pastel journey or continue to develop your own style using the versatile medium of oil pastels.

ART TUTORIAL- Single-Line Drawing | Mixed Media Bird | Nature Journaling Techniques

Do you struggle with creating art that feels exciting and expressive? Do you feel the need to create something beautiful but you haven’t quite mastered the mediums?

Let me show you a simple and effective style of mixed media art that will help when your artwork starts to feel dull. Today we will use pen, ink wash, and watercolor to practice the skill of expressive markings and relaxed style with exciting results.

Jessalyn BeasleyNovember 2, 2022

Sensory Art Supplies for Kids

Have you ever found yourself doodling during a presentation, or coloring the table with the kids meal crayons while you wait for your food? Then you’ve probably experienced the therapeutic benefit of art whether you realized it or not. The process of making art is already inherently relaxing, grounding, and helpful for calming the mind. Today’s post is a short list of art supplies that offer an extra-sensory experience, beyond art’s normal healing benefits. Most of the supplies in this list focus on the sense of touch, like the unbelievably satisfying sensation of the material gliding across the paper, or the bumpy feeling of the marks under the finger after they dry. These are great for the sensory-specific children among us, but your child does not have to have a special sensory need to benefit from the extra boost of these art materials… for that matter, neither do you.

Jessalyn BeasleyNovember 1, 2022Comment

Sparking Creativity | Kids with Oil Pastels | Art Tutorial

This style is intentionally imperfect but the defining features of the bright oil pastels, with heavy black outlines, created by expressive markings on black paper is like an elevated version of the crayon scribbles we all know and love. It is amazing how this small change from crayons to oil pastels, white to black paper, and some intentional black outlines will create stunningly eye-catching artwork from the same little hands that brought you that lovely chicken-dog blob that has been hanging on the fridge since it came home from school on Father’s Day.

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This is a great place to start your oil pastel journey or continue to develop your own style using the versatile medium of oil pastels.

Do you struggle with creating art that feels exciting and expressive? Do you feel the need to create something beautiful but you haven’t quite mastered the mediums?

Let me show you a simple and effective style of mixed media art that will help when your artwork starts to feel dull. Today we will use pen, ink wash, and watercolor to practice the skill of expressive markings and relaxed style with exciting results.

Let me show you a simple and effective style of mixed media art that will help when your artwork starts to feel dull. Today we will use pen, ink wash, and watercolor to practice the skill of expressive markings and relaxed style with exciting results.