Q: What is the difference between oil sticks, oil pastels, and oil bars?

A: All contain pigment oil and wax--just in varying proportions and shapes. Oil sticks are the hardest and can be used on surfaces prepared for oil paint. They are made with an oil that dries to a hard film, and they contain only enough wax to mold them into their crayon shape. Artists can work a brush and turpentine into an oil-stick line drawing and manipulate it, then draw on top of the surface again with more oil stick for a calligraphic effect. They can be built up to a fairly thick layer, scraped, thinned with mineral spirits, brushed, and manipulated in many ways. In contrast, oil pastels are prepared with a nondrying oil, have a greater proportion of wax, do not form a durable paint film, and do not dry completely. They are soft, opaque, and have a wide range of permanent colors, particularly rich, deep darks. Like dry pastels, they blend together well to produce painterly effects. Oil pastels dissolve in turpentine.

Oil bars are a variation on oil sticks.

Comments

Are oil pastels the same as oil crayons and should they be entered into competitions as "oils" or "pastels"/"crayons"?
Thank you very much. Judy