Little Light

Little Light is a sweet, soft drawing. It is filled with surprising colors and warm light. Light that immediately sets me to dreaming. Doesn't this piece inspire you to make a wish? It features a clean, open composition and some sharp lines as well as three words that have been subtly written in the background. They read, "Shine, sing, give." I am hopeful this glowing bit of magic will bring big dreams your way.

How this image was created.... Oil pastels can be tricky to work with. Some colors cover others, some remove the layer below them, and some mix with the colors below. So it takes lots of experience to learn the ins and outs of layering oil pastel colors. As I often do, I laid down a VERY bright underpainting and then used a straight-edged razor blade to strip that off, leaving behind colorful stains on the mat board. Next, I built up layers and layers of colors from darker colors to lighter ones. I added some key highlights and lowlights before finishing with colored pencils. I used the pencils to draw the spiffy outlines and add the words. Because of the way I layer stuff, the pencil lines remove layers of oil pastel revealing bits of the underlying colors.

(How Little Light might look in a standard-sized 8" x 10" frame.)

This drawing was made on an acid-free mat board. It has been sprayed with fixative, but oil pastels are always a bit soft. You will want to frame this piece in order to protect the relatively fragile surface. It can be framed at a savings if you pick out a frame at your favorite home store and then bring that frame and your new drawing together to the local custom framer and ask them to mat the drawing to fit the frame.