gouache painting
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Race weekend 4
Another race weekend, with another good batch of lessons learned about watercolor gouache painting. I’ve abandoned my pencil in favor of underpainting, which is allowing me more flexibility with shapes, as well as more speed. The yellow of my underpainting shows through on the clouds here, but I kind of like the effect. I didn’t…
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Race weekend 3
Plein-air lessons learned while painting from the top of a fire-watch tower.
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Race weekend 2
Another race weekend, another chance to practice watercolor gouache for a few hours 🙂 From my paddock spot, I couldn’t see much other than trees. But it was a good opportunity for practicing green color-mixing. I picked a couple trees with subtle hue differences, and I practiced pushing their hues further from each other, to…
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Race weekend 1
A plein-air painting in watercolor gouache for the first race event of the year.
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Cosmo’s cosmos
A pet portrait painted in jelly gouache on a drink board for a friend’s wedding.
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Street corner from the coffee shop
It’s amazing how time flies when sketching. This ink-and-watercolor sketch took up the full two hours that I spent with the city’s urban sketching group. Much of the time was spent color-mixing, a skill I’m practicing more thoughtfully lately. Mixing a full array of colors in advance allowed me to avoid color gradients, keeping the…
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View from the watch tower
We spent a night in a nearby city and I found a few opportunities to sketch outside. First, a beautiful vista from the top of a fire watch tower. It was very windy up there, so I rushed to scribble out a memory before I lost my sketchbook or my hat. And later, sitting in…
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What to know before trying jelly gouache
One of the most frequent questions I hear from passersby as I’m painting is “What’s that stuff you’re using?” It’s jelly gouache (pronounced “gwash”)! As far as I can tell, this is a newly-developed medium. I saw illustrators using it on Instagram and simply had to try it. Since then it’s become my go-to medium…
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Walking bridge
Despite frigid winds, the quality of light today was too beautiful not to spend some time painting outside. I struggled to hold onto my sketchbook and palette through the wind while painting the walking bridge over the river. But I’m glad I got a snapshot of the beautiful day. One of the qualities I love…
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Mechanicsburg Art & Wine Walk 2025
Hiding from the rain (that never came) at the Mechanicsburg Art & Wine Walk, I painted this indoor scene of Revolutionary Hot Sauce while enjoying lots of great conversation. I love how artistically curious people are in this town! Great day; can’t wait for next year! Materials: Himi jelly gouache on Arches hot pressed watercolor…
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Tan dog
Painted with jelly gouache on Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper, for a Christmas card for a pet owner.
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Chihuahua
Painting in jelly gouache, for a Christmas card for a pet owner. My reference photo had fairly stark lighting, which made this subject more fun.
