Oil Pastel: Landscapes

Exploring Color, Nature, and Emotion Through Art

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, students will create landscape artworks using oil pastels. We'll take inspiration from nature—mountains, forests, rivers, and skies—and explore how color, movement, and mood work together to create a feeling in the viewer.

This project will also introduce oil pastel techniques like layering, blending, and using contrast to bring a scene to life.

Learning Goals

By the end of this lesson, students will:

• Learn how to create expressive landscapes using oil pastels

• Recognize warm and cool colors and how they affect mood

• Connect emotions with color choices and artistic intention
  
  

Art-Making Process

Before you start:
Look through reference photos or scenes from your imagination. What kind of feeling do you want to express—peaceful, dramatic, bright, soft? Use this feeling to guide your color choices and composition.

1. Frame Your Page
   Use your ruler to mark out the border of your artwork in your sketchbook.

2. Sky First
   Begin with the sky. Notice how it shifts from light to dark, or warm to cool. Start with lighter colors, and build up layers slowly. Blend softly with a paper towel, using strokes that match the direction of the clouds or light.

3. Add Landscape Elements
   Now add your land—mountains, rivers, trees, or fields. Use the same blending and layering technique as the sky. Think about how color changes as things move further into the distance.

4. Silhouettes & Detail
   Add a silhouette to create contrast—this might be a tree, a person, an animal, or a structure. Use a 4B pencil or black pastel. For smaller details like grass or branches, draw lightly with your pencil.

5. Final Touches
   Use white pastel or correction pen to add highlights—like sun reflections or clouds. Step back and look at your piece. Ask yourself: Does this feel like the emotion or scene I wanted to create?

Helpful Tip

When blending and coloring, follow the natural direction of your scene—horizontal for lakes, diagonal for light rays, or vertical for tree trunks. This adds flow and movement to your work.

Color Terminology

Primary Colors: Red, blue, and yellow—can’t be made by mixing other colors

Secondary Colors: Orange, green, and purple—made by mixing two primary colors

Warm Colors: Colors like red, yellow, and orange—often feel energetic or comforting

Cool Colors: Colors like blue, green, and purple—often feel calm, quiet, or distant

Closing Reflection

Nature teaches us that light and color are always shifting. In your landscape, you’re not just showing a place—you’re showing a moment, a feeling, and a point of view. Let your colors speak, and trust your eye.