So... my very first oil pastel painting.  I decided to set out of my comfort zone of colored pencils and watercolor to experiment with a medium that reminded me of my college training in oil paint at Knox College, where I majored in studio art and education.  The subject matter of this piece comes from one of my favorite places - the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.  You'll see me reference it again and again in my florals and landscapes.  I used Neopastels and Sennelier oil pastels on Fabriano soft press watercolor paper.  It has a texture a bit like a fine linen canvas with lots of gesso.  That texture shows through the pastels in a way that works for the piece, but it made it a real challenge as the oil pastels wanted to stick to the high texture and skip the valleys.  I had to use paper stumps to press it into the pits of the textured paper.  Oil pastels are dustless, which is a big plus for me, and they are layer in much the same way as oil paint.  It's like oil paint in stick form.  I plan to used them more frequently for landscape work, and incorporate colored papers.