Tag: gouache

A Lonely Road (Gouache)

I started out trying to do a more delicate painting, but I think that would work better in watercolor. Instead of delicate and lighter, the colors became thicker and darker, and it turned from a misty, damp, rather gloomy day to one which seems filled with a foreboding storm.

I decided to just paint and not try for realism and delicacy. I went for emotion.  Instead of applying paint nicely, I began to just slap it on directly from the color onto the paper rather than mixing colors on the palette. It was gloriously fun!

I used a 1/2 inch flat brush – nothing else. I rather like this splashing and letting go of things as I tend to be something of a prima donna and perfectionist – and this was like rollicking through the mud and muck!!

If I were to call this any “school” of painting, I guess Expressionism would be the closest I would come. The more I painted, the more I wanted to express a fierce and gloomy day portending rain and hail, or rain and hell.

Another value study, too.  Impressed?

Look!  I put in some sheep!

Forest Road

I’d forgotten how much fun painting with gouache can be! Today, a painting of a forest road running through a lot of trees, but not so heavy with leaves that light doesn’t shine through. I began with a value study – again, more for shapes I think in light and dark.

The first layer of the painting had thin washes to set up the light green in the distance. Then, general dark shapes were added after the road was limned. The trees were then painted, dark to light, using long strokes with a round brush. After that, a flat was used for broad sweeps of the road. Finally, dabs of color to create a sense of dappled light on leaves. Final touches included some dashes of white and a blackish mix (purple, green, black) for lines and bits of contrast. What I really liked is the ivy climbing up the trees, creating bright splotches of color. Altogether, I think it worked quite well.

The value study is becoming valuable. Yeah, really. It helps me see where strong shapes against light shapes create visual interest and leading lines. Value studies are general but the painting becomes more specific.

Yellow Amanita Muscaria

Amanita Muscaria is quite poisonous. I’ve seen it in red, but in cruising the internet came across a yellow variant.   The yellow variant is also know as fly agaric. 

Fungi and mushrooms are neither plant nor animal – I think they are kind of creepy, but at the same time so fascinating. Where I live it is too dry most of the time for mushrooms to appear, but they can be found in damper areas along creeks and arroyos, as well as on my front lawn after the rain. Then, we get fairy rings!

As before, a quick pencil sketch, but this was more for planning the painting than values. Gouache, 5×7, CP 140# paper.

End of Summer Paintings

Summer comes and goes; retirement gives you time to fill the days. Each one is cherished, and soon, your time becomes increasing full, so full you wonder when you will find time . . .

I have tried to paint every day – gouache, watercolor, pastels – and overall have managed to meet that challenge. Some days, other parts of life intervene, and that’s okay. Appointments, social engagements, reading a book all can replace the time spent painting. Thus, without further ado, here are some that I produced since my August 2, 2020, post about painting in July.

Painting in July

I have done a fair amount of painting this last month, some of which has pleased me, and, of course, some which is not what I intended. In between has been some sewing and photography.

The paintings in this gallery were done mostly in July and are in both watercolor and gouache. I have been doing water studies for the most part – some still, inland water – some oceans and shore. For years the subject intimidated me, but now it is getting a lot easier. From water on the ground I have also moved to water in the air – fog, rain.

Now I plan to pull out the pastels and try these same subjects in a very different and unwet medium.