Oil Pastels: The Misunderstood Medium That Delights Our Students Every Term

There's a moment that happens in nearly every term at our East Croydon studio. We're about three weeks in, perhaps four, and we introduce oil pastels. Without fail, someone will say, rather apologetically: "Oh, aren't those just for children?"

And then we hand them out.

What follows is rather lovely to witness. Within minutes, the same students who'd been tentative are leaning into their boards, blending sunset colours with their fingertips, discovering that oil pastels have absolutely nothing to do with those waxy crayons from primary school. The room fills with a particular kind of absorbed quiet—the good sort, punctuated by the occasional delighted "oh!" as someone discovers you can scratch through layers or blend two seemingly incompatible colours into something rather beautiful.

The Medium Nobody Expects to Love

Oil pastels occupy a curious space in the art materials world. They're not quite drawing, not quite painting—they're somewhere gloriously in between. While our 14-week courses cover Drawing, Oil Pastels, Watercolours, and Acrylics, it's the oil pastels week that tends to convert the most sceptics.

Perhaps it's because they're so immediate. There's no waiting for paint to dry, no water jars to manage, no brushes to clean. You simply pick up a stick of pure pigment and start making marks. For beginners especially, this directness is liberating. You can change your mind quickly, layer colours with abandon, and see results straight away.

What Makes Them Special?

The richness of colour in a good oil pastel is something worth experiencing. We use professional-grade sets in our classes, and the difference is remarkable—buttery, blendable, and intensely pigmented. Students often compare the experience to spreading soft butter rather than colouring in.

Here's what our students particularly love:

• The ability to blend colours directly on the paper with fingers or blending stumps
• Layering light colours over dark (try that with traditional pastels!)
• Scratching through layers—sgraffito technique—to reveal colours beneath
• No drying time means you finish and take home a completed piece the same evening
• They're wonderfully forgiving for beginners whilst offering enough complexity for more experienced hands

From Hesitant to Hooked

What touches us most is watching confidence build. By the end of our oil pastel session, students who arrived thinking they "couldn't do art" are taking photographs of their work, genuinely pleased. There's something about the medium that bypasses the usual anxieties. Perhaps because oil pastels don't feel too serious, people relax into them—and then create something rather wonderful precisely because they've stopped worrying.

One student last term—a lovely chap who'd been quite nervous throughout the drawing weeks—produced a landscape in oil pastels that stopped the class in their tracks. "I wasn't thinking," he said, "I was just enjoying the colours." Which is rather the point, isn't it?

Come and Be Surprised

If you've been curious about exploring your creative side, our 14-week courses here in East Croydon offer a gentle, thorough introduction to four different media. No experience needed, just curiosity and a willingness to be pleasantly surprised—especially when we reach the oil pastels.

We'd love to hear from you. Drop us an enquiry, and let's see what colours you might discover on a Tuesday or Thursday evening in South London. The kettle's always on, and there's usually cake.