Here’s a drink board painted for my friend’s wedding. Completed in jelly gouache on Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper.
As is custom, this took ages to complete. I knew from painting 30 (30!) per portraits last year that it would be difficult capturing the dog satisfactorily, so I started with him and had to churn out a few iterations before I approached something dog-shaped.
I’m glad I gave myself plenty of time before my deadline. The dog’s color palette alone took me an hour to mix! I’m entirely self-taught and have much to learn about color-mixing and color-theory in general. I learned plenty here though. I wasn’t bold enough with my colors (because I was scared to mess up a gift). Soon after finishing this piece, I bought a few tubes of gouache much brighter than I normally mix with; I’m determined not to make the same mistake with the next work!
I was very happy with the Winsor-Newton masking fluid I used to block out the letters. Despite the bright color, it thankfully didn’t leave any residual color like other fluids I’ve used. I tested the entire masking process thoroughly before going at it on the real piece.
In the end, my friend was happy with the outcome. And to my delight, my drink board seemed to be a crowd favorite at the wedding! I spotted plenty of people taking pictures with it. Nothing pleases me more than seeing my hobby appreciated! 🙂
Big congratulations to Lindsey and Jon (and Cosmo)! The wedding was beautiful 🙂
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