With a white pastel, draw a horizon line across the paper. Add a half-circle sun sitting on the horizon and sunshine ray lines going from the sun to the edge of the paper.
Below the horizon line, use the white pastel to add wavy lines across the paper for the water.
Gather all the warm-color pastels – reds, oranges, and yellows. Color the sun and rays, trying not to color too much on the white lines. Shade in each section, and don’t worry about covering the black paper completely. For more detail and depth, experiment with layering the various pastel colors, too. My girls love to layer and mix the colors.
When the sun is finished, collect all the cool-color pastels – greens, blues, and purples. Color the waves with a variety of cool colors, shading inside the white lines and trying some color layering.
Done! I love how the oil pastels pop on the black background. Pretty impressive results with two simple art supplies!
For even more fun with oil pastels, try these projects, too:
Stained glass candle drawings Tracing paper votive covers Witch hat drawings
