Oil bars —sometimes called oil sticks— are oil paints in a solid form. I often use them to sketch and draw compositions and details in my paintings, because they can be thinned with turpentine and used with regular oil paints. For multi-layered pieces, I sometimes draw directly on the gessoed panel with oil bars, and then paint on top. I also use oil bar on wet washes of turpentine/oil paint, or on top of dried layers. I started a series of  larger, horizontal paintings in the studio today, and this is a small section of one of them. When I sketch a rough outline like this, I usually put the piece up on my easel -but sometimes I work on the floor. Oil bar dries quickly with winter’s low humidity, so this thin layer will likely be dry tomorrow. Next I will add thin washes of oil color and more drawing.

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