Oil-Stick, Color in your hand

SENNELIER Extra-Fine Solid Oil Sticks permit a new approach to oil-painting in both colour and material. This new material permits more freedom of expression for oil painters.

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SENNELIER Extra-Fine Solid Oil Sticks are based on :
- pure pigments.
- safflower oils (siccatives), selected for their resistance to yellowing over time, and used to bind the pigments.
- mineral wax, which gives a solid consistency. This wax has been subjected to
numerous tests and fulfills the following criteria :
- Excellent archival conservation.
- Excellent performance of the paint film on the various traditional supports for
oil-paint.
- Excellent homogenous finish.
- Provides a strong adhesive bond between layers.

The special qualities of SENNELIER Extra-Fine Solid Oil Sticks are its creamy smoothness and ease of application.
SENNELIER's experience with oil pastels was very important in the development of
this range of products and insures its quality. Although size and shape of the oil sticks are similar to SENNELIER Le Grande oil pastels, the materials composing the products are very different.

How To Use?

SENNELIER Extra-Fine Solid Oil Sticks can be used alone or in combination with to oil colours in tubes. The oil stick colours can be used for an entire painting. They are applied directly to any traditional oil-painting support, such as canvas, wood panel or fine art paper. They need the same archival priming (acrylic gesso or oil ground) that oil paint requires.

APPLICATION
Before use, the surface film of the oil stick must be peeled off. It will form again after a few days of non-use, protecting and conserving the color. The oil sticks must be applied in a thin film application of no more than 1mm thick. Once applied they can be painted over with oil stick or oil paint and if desired be diluted with turpentine. Oil stick Medium, a colorless oil stick, may be used to produce transparent effects and glazes. Once applied, the oil stick surface will dry in 2 to 5 days, depending on the atmospheric conditions. If varnishing is desired, you must wait 6 months (as in traditional oil paint) until the colour is completely dry, before giving the painting a final coat of picture varnish.
Use a soft brush to varnish so that the oil stick marks are not disturbed.
SENNELIER Extra-Fine Solid Oil Stick colours are either opaque (O) or transparent (T) depending on the nature of the pigment in each color. Oil Sticks do not change during storage and require no special precautions except to be kept away from any source of heat, which could adversely affect the stick.

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There are 2 sizes of oil stick :
Medium diameter 20mm. Volume 38ml. Length : 130 mm
Large diameter 30mm. Volume 96ml. Length : 150 mm. For large surfaces, backgrounds and solid colour applications.

There are various techniques of direct application of the oil stick.

1 After applying the colour with the point or the edge of the oil stick, colours can be mixed directly on the support, with the possibility of then: 2 Blending : with brush (bristle, mongoose or badger), finger, or drawing stump. With or without turpentine. 3 Wash-drawing : Dilute colours with turpentine or mineral spirit. 4 Retouching : with oil stick, palette knife or brush. 5 Textures : Thick application oil stick colour. Retouch with a brush or palette knife. 6 Sgraffito : Technique of scratching a layer of fresh paint with a point (brush handle, palette knife, etc.) to reveal the layer below. Sgraffito is related to engraving, and is used not only for revealing the under-layers of paint but also to scratch and clean unsatisfactory parts of the painting.