First Pastels EVER

Wow, my first post since graduation! I wish I had something more substantial to post to mark the occasion. I decided to learn how to use oil pastels over the summer. I guess it's like painting with crayons. So I tried it out in San Juan Bautista yesterday and, well, I'm learning. I've been painting since I was 12 years old and that helped me to some degree but I know I'm really going to be struggling with the media until I get past the learning curve here. Color issues aside for a moment, I'm having a lot of trouble just controlling value and learning how to mix pastels. I'll have to visit the library this week to do some reading on the basics and then I can just learn the rest on the job. If I get one or two good pieces out of this entire summer, I'll be happy. The first of the pastels was done in San Juan Baustista and the second was done in Fremont, CA. I have no idea what I'm doing.


Below: Recent sketchbook work.