It has been about three years since I painted with oils. I shouldn’t have waited to long. The reason I like to paint at least one oil a years is because it ensure that I keep my color Mixing is a skill all its own. Unlike pastels—where I can simply pick up a stick in the exact color and value I need—oil painting requires me to create those colors first. As a pastelist, I’m used to layering multiple hues or lightly blending, but it’s not quite the same as physically mixing paint on a palette.

That first oil painting was a struggle. Even the basic act of painting felt different. Instead of working directly with my fingers, I now had a brush in hand. The mark-making changed completely—using the bristles to move a wet medium across the surface versus the dry, tactile experience of pastels.

I found myself asking new questions: How thick should the paint be? Should I apply it lightly or press in more? In some ways, that decision-making overlaps with pastel work, but the medium responds differently, and I had to learn that through trial and error.

The hardest adjustment, though, was patience—waiting for the paint to dry before moving on to the next layer. With pastels, there’s an immediacy I’ve grown to love, a kind of instant gratification when things are going well.

By the time I completed my third oil painting, I was starting to feel more comfortable—more confident, even. And with that, I packed up my oil paints again… this time for another year.