There are some nice things going on in this painting although I wonder about the dark, or vagueness of the dark areas. Sometimes it's difficult to tell true values on these posted digitals. So I guess my question is : is the painting deliberately light throughout? Then, is developing rich dark areas something that's difficult with oil pastel?

I ask because I work in dry pastels but have purchased some decent oil pastels (mostly Sennelier) to mess around with. So far I  haven't had much success using them straight out of the box. Rather than the crisp, vibrant and reflective hue I get with dry pastels, there seems to be a lot of mid-tone neutrals (we used to call that "mud") popping up uninvited. Any advice you might have as to technique certainly would be helpful.

SL Sorensen

Beautiful Ceder-- I grew up in South Jersey and can still remember the feel of sandy roads between my toes. I guess if you aren't from there you don't realize the unusual kind of soil. It is soil but has a high sand content so becomes soft and sandy in the dry summer months...and very light in color. We were the barefoot towheaded decendents of early colonists. Keep drawing...few people know about the area!