A Stroke of Luck!

Judith

Earlier this month I wrote about “wish lists” — and mentioned the closing of Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff. In that post, as I was “wishing” a bit, I mentioned a set of Sennelier oil pastels. Anyone who loves oil pastels and has used Sennelier knows how soft and creamy these sticks are. Oh, my goodness! They are truly like butter. They are also expensive.

For those who aren’t familiar with Sennelier, they were the creators of oil pastel sticks — at the request of Pablo Picasso. The story goes that in 1948, Picasso — who had purchased from Sennelier’s art shop previously — asked if they might be able to come up with a painting medium that required no advance surface preparation.

You can read the history of Sennelier — and the story of Picasso’s request — here:

Sennelier, the Paint Shop in Paris

Ever since I first bought a small — very small — set and began using Sennelier oil pastels, I’ve longed for a larger set. A “complete” set, however, sells for over $500.00, and while I do believe in buying good quality materials, I don’t find my oil pastel art worthy of such an investment.

But how much would such a set be now during Cheap Joe’s clearance sale? Oh, what a thought! I quickly got online to check, and even with the “closing sale” discount, the price was well over $200.00, a bit more than I felt comfortable in paying.

But… maybe a slightly smaller set? I browsed around a bit and came across this one:

It’s a set of 48 and the sale price was quite reasonable. Oh, yes, I added it to my cart, browsed around just a bit, and then quickly checked out. Thank goodness I didn’t dilly-dally or delay!

Soon, I received my order confirmation with shipping information. My Sennelier pastels will be arriving very soon. But then, wanting to write this post and share my excitement, I returned to the website to get the specific product information. And guess what I saw! In bright, bold, red letters, the product showed SOLD OUT!

Oh, my! I had apparently purchased the last set remaining in Cheap Joe’s inventory! What a stroke of luck. Had I waited another day — had I waited even a few hours — I most likely would have missed out on this beautiful bargain.

Part of me now is experiencing that same sort of feeling I had back in June 2015 when I ordered a set of Prismacolor Premier colored pencils — and then felt I had no right to own such high-quality, “artist” pencils. Do I really deserve a set of 48 creamy, smooth, buttery Sennelier oil pastels?

Back in 2015 as I looked at the display of colored pencils before me, I sighed and said “I guess I’ll have to learn to draw.” That’s how this journey began. Today, I’m dreaming of my Senneliers and thinking to myself, “Well, I guess I’d better work on my oil pastel techniques.”

I do love oil pastels, and having these Senneliers will make my oil pastel painting experiences so enjoyable! So, don’t be surprised when you begin seeing oil pastel landscapes and still life paintings.

Every time I pick up a Sennelier stick and make a stroke on paper or canvas, I will think of it as “a stroke of luck”. How fortunate I was to order this set when I did!

25 Comments

    1. There are so many different art media to explore, and I’ve learned that some brands are better than others. Sometimes I do opt for “student grade” materials, but when I can afford “artist quality” supplies, I can definitely tell the difference.

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    1. I love oil pastels! When I first tried them, I had no idea how to use them LOL. My initial efforts weren’t too good, and surprisingly I couldn’t find much information online about oil pastels. That’s changed a bit now. Several years ago I did take an online course and learned a lot of different techniques, and, of course, practice helps! I’m looking forward to doing landscape art with my new Senneliers.

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      1. Yes, thankfully they were not the only game in town though I will miss Joe and the videos. I heard somewhere someone had bought them but not sure now if that fell through as so many items no longer available.

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    1. I love my small set, but I’ve tried to use them so sparingly! It will be nice to have this larger set. I haven’t received it yet. Cheap Joe’s is swamped with orders, of course. I did receive an email letting me know that it would be shipping soon. Now that the weather is warming up, I’m planning to spend a little time sketching at the park and then using my sketches as inspirations for oil pastels.

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    1. Not sure if this was the post you meant to reply to, but hey, MLB season is back. I wish our KC Royals were doing better ( we did win with a walk-off in the 11th inning last night), and I wish we could watch more games on television. I enjoy watching baseball and used to love spending the evening in front of the TV with a big bowl of popcorn, but I don’t feel I should have to pay big bucks for a subscription service. I think Major League Baseball has lost a lot of fans because of this. 😦

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    1. LOL… yep, I guessed the comment got dropped on the wrong post. Still, it gave me a chance to vent a little. 🙂 I am disappointed that games are no longer carried on our local channels (except for a few). At least the Royals pulled out a win last night, and thanks for the good wishes.

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