A quick study from a photo I took some time ago. Depending on where you are in California, the beaches can be flat and wide, beneath sandy cliffs, or covered with rocks. Wherever you go, you have legal access to the coast – no private beaches!
8×10 on canvas board.
Another “fantasy” (hence “Keep Dreaming”) painting. Another mixture of gouache – white and black only – and watercolors. As before, 16×20 CP 140# Arches paper.
Using a mixture of watercolor and gouache, with color coming from the watercolor and opacity and darks from the gouache, there is an ease of painting which acrylics cannot touch. The reason is that acrylics dry quickly, and I don’t really seem to have a lot of success with retardants.
I guess I should try acrylics mixed with a retardant a few times more than I have and give them a chance. Experience is the best teacher. The combination of gouache with the watercolor lets me remix my colors later (gouache can be re-wet) and gives an opacity that is not possible in watercolor. I like this combination but still think I should work a bit more with the acrylics. I am also considering trying oils once more. With oils, I know it would be a way to have the colors remain wet long enough to allow reworking areas. Odorless mineral spirits add to the allure of oils.
Anyway, I am having a lot of fun with these fantasy paintings. We all have a tropical isle of some sort to which we would like to escape!
Another tribute to the dreams of the Florida Highwaymen.
Both Smudge and I have been hiding. Inky is not even letting me take a picture of her . . . hopefully, we will return sooner rather than later! It’s nuts, as always, with the holiday season!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 