GOUACHE

Strathmore offers free online courses in a variety of mediums and techniques.  I recently signed up for, and started, the painting with gouache course.  These are just a mix of exercises and a beginning painting using gouache.  I didn't have the colors required but used what I had on hand.

I didn't have black paper so used the grey toned Strathmore paper I had to see how the gouache works over colored paper to cover - can't do this with watercolors.

If you're interested, you can probably still sign in and try the lessons (4 videos with lots of info).  Go to strathmoreartiststudio.com to see the offerings.  And if you can't get into this one, they offer workshops all the time - free - so get on their mailing list.  

CARBON PENCILS

The artist and teacher, Val Webb, offers online courses all the time and they are very reasonable in price.  She gives you TONS of information, including printouts to use and lots of good experience in something new.  So I thought I'd try her Carbon Pencil class - it's the garden pollinator class using carbon pencils and a graphite I'd never heard of = a 9XXB.  I had most of the materials she's using so I didn't have to invest too much in it other than the cost for the course.  Check out her website, if you're interested in drawing or painting (I've taken 2 classes from her and came away both times with lots of new stuff to try and use in my own work).  

Now, I have to say, one big draw-back to drawing like this is patience.  I don't have any, and I want to rush.  Also, I've found I have a heavy hand when drawing, so when Val says (on the videos) to "lightly draw" I just go in like always.  Doing this, I even was too heavy-handed with my tracing the initial drawing onto the watercolor paper because, when it came to laying down the 9XXB graphite and the carbon pencils, I had a white line that was difficult to cover.  I guess I'll get the hang of it.  Val's work in the carbon pencils is just stunning and I don't expect to get to that level without a LOT of practice.  

I did this little butterfly twice because I was not satisfied with the outcome on the Arches HP block - it wouldn't lift back to white with the eraser and was a bit smeary.  Thought I'd get a better look to the 2nd try and tried the Stonehenge Aqua Hotpress.  I like the top one best, maybe because I spent more time on it?

Oh, well, learning learning learning....


I am also going back to the free Strathmore class I signed up for and never got past the first class.  It's about gouache and that's another medium I've rarely used.  I am liking it but have only dipped my toe in so far with the exercises to get used to the medium.  Strathmore offers free classes online all the time.  I am on their mailing list so I get notified when new classes are going to start.  So far, they have been very good and full of information and good stuff - and they are free!  Check them out at
strathmoreartiststudio.com  and see what they have there (and they always have new things being added).  I'll share some of that work soon.  

Hope you are having a wonderful October so far.  Our heat is gone and it feels like fall.  Now, just add some trees changing colors and it will lift me out of this slump I've been in for a month or so.  

A FEW MORE PRINTS

Can you see the dancers in the top one?  I can.  Will have to use this for something interesting...

The blue background was a print I made and didn't know what to do with so...

stamped on it with a sunflower stamp and need to make it prettier with some additional acrylic paint to call it done.  


The right one?  Who knows?!?!  

PRINTMAKING WITH GELLI ARTS - THIRD SET

Top and left bottom are on cards I just printed over.  The bottom right is on rice paper so thin enough to glue onto something else.  We'll see.



Going to start on my Val Webb online course using carbon pencils and such...I hope I have something to share as I go along.  This is the 2nd online course I've taken from Val and she's great and gives you so much information - a very good, giving teacher!!

PRINTMAKING - AGAIN

A few more prints using the Gelli Art plate and acrylics.



I can see a Christmas card or something in the upper right and perhaps the ocean waves in the bottom one.  The left top?  Maybe a Southwest theme?




Happy October - Happy Fall

PRINTMAKING WITH MY GELLI ART PLATE AND ACRYLICS

When I really can't get motivated to paint anything, I pull out the acrylics and my Gelli Art plate and play with colors and shapes.  That's what this was - more to come!  All are 8 x 10 or smaller (some paper scraps or rice paper pieces).


I could add to these with more paint, stencils, collage pieces or just put them on a blank card and send them as is.  

ANOTHER REWORKED

Last one done wet-in-wet and then reworked to get more interest and darks in the painting.


I was never happy with this one to just cropped off the right side more, added more darks and I like it better.  Plus, it's an unusual shape now.

Better?

MORE DARKS

This one, done wet-in-wet, wasn't too bad,
but you can always add something to make it better, right?

Better?

DARKER VALUES ADDED

This painting, done wet-in-wet, was okay...
but kind of blah.

Getting some darks in there and adding some value changes throughout make it more interesting, I think.

FRUSTRATION

I have been seeing your work and trying to comment but, once again, blogger says, no.  My post just goes away and never gets there.  But know I am looking and enjoying your work.  And congratulations, Jennifer, on finishing your dissertation!!

Loved the last two little village homes you painted, Bruce.  And always love what you are doing, Chris, with charcoal now :) and you, Lisa and Laura, with your seaside beauties.

I never know why I cannot get through - hope it doesn’t continue, as it makes me want to just give up at times.

I am over on Facebook as RHCarpenter, but a Like just doesn’t get or give much satisfaction when an artist is working and sharing their efforts and hopes for a bit more time and energy expended into the looking and commenting.

DARKENING SOME WISHY-WASHY PAINTINGS

Before =
wishy-washy without any oomph due to painting
wet-in-wet and not going back in with darks.

After -
better by adding darks and more visual interest
to the painting overall.








Sometimes, painting wet-in-wet creates some wimpy paintings.  Too light and not enough value changes (for me).  

Sometimes you need those darks to make the light shine - as in painting, so in life.

WHEN YOUR CREATIVITY EVADES YOU

Whenever my creativity evades me and my inspirations are null and void, I still look at other artists' work and enjoy seeing that.  I look at magazines and online stuff.  I try to sign up for something online that doesn't take a lot of time and effort but might teach me something new.  Other than that, I just sits and thinks...and sometimes I just sits (to quote Pogo, the comic strip of old).  I guess it's that time. 

When you are losing someone who meant so much to you, you become sad and sometimes angry.  I know we are not made to last forever, but it's hard to accept.  I talk to my cousin (who is like a big sister, not a cousin) every day - sometimes twice a day.  There will never be good days again but some days are okay. 

I read something the other day about losing your siblings.  If we get old enough, that will happen.  Sometimes it happens before we get old.  Anyway, it said when you lose all of your siblings, you also lose your own history.  For who else can remember the stupid things you did when you were young; the strange outfits you put together to look cool; the choices you made that were not the best?  Who else can remember when you sang at their wedding, or taught them to dance, or just got silly together?  Losing them is losing yourself, in a way.

So I just sits and thinks...or just sits.  I'll return...later.    

MELTING

Melting in the North

11 x 15 inches
Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press paper

WET-IN-WET BUT NEED DARKER VALUES ALL AROUND

I've decided that my paintings don't have enough oomph - which means value changes.  So...will return to some of these small paintings done wet-in-wet (hard to get really good dense darks when painting wet-in-wet because you go back to look and, when it's dry, it's very much lighter all over). 


I will add some dark interest to them and then repost the best ones.


Cliffside

11 x 15 inches
Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press paper

GOUACHE ONLINE

If you're interested in getting your feet wet with gouache, Strathmore is having an online mini-workshop starting September 3rd.  Here is the link.


I'm signed up to try it.  I've always been interested in gouache on kraft paper or colored paper - and could use some pointers on how best to blend and layer it.  

SKETCHBOOK STUFF 2

Two more sketchbook things - just a bit of pigment and water since the paper is thin.




What's Left?
8 x 11 sketch

Muddy Waters
8 x 11 sketch

SKETCHBOOK STUFF 1

Not inspired right now.  No enthusiasm for painting so...

Just opened up my sketchbook (thin paper so have to be light with the pigments and water) and came up with a couple of sketches that might become paintings later - or they might just remain as is.  



Burn
8 x 11 sketch

Sometimes it's hard to keep going when there's no road to follow - but, I know, that is what makes it fun (when it's fun).  





Run
8 x 11 sketch



Need to stay off the news and Facebook - both are depressing with all the news about the Amazon burning (saw a FB post that reported that NASA says the fires are always burning this time of year and media is making us panic - so checked that and the poster picked one article, not the latest that said the Amazon is burning at a higher rate now and more land burned in the last 9 years - so check your FB stuff because people pick and choose what they want to promote their own agenda :(  And that makes me sad, too.  

SOUTHWESTERN

Sandstone





15 x 22 inches
Arches 140# cold press paper

THIS AND THAT

Sundown




11 x 15 inches 
Arches 140# cold press paper




I had no preconceived notion of what I was going to paint when I began these last 2 paintings - just picked a color and began and then moved on from there.
Perhaps I need an idea first?

ANOTHER

The Earth is Weeping




11 x 15 inches
Arches 140# cold press paper

SOMETHING ELSE

Dreaming of Something Else






15 x 22 inches
Arches 140# cold press paper

THE LAST

The Last Glacier Standing




11 x 15 inches
Arches 140# cold press paper

FAVORITES

 

My favorites from the June-July series of wet-in-wet paintings.

 






Which one are your favorites?

WATERCOLOR AND FLUID ACRYLIC

Windwalkers




11 x 15 inches
Arches 140# cold press paper
Watercolor and fluid acrylic

SEASCAPE

The Dark and Stormy Seas




11 x 15 inches
Arches 140# cold press paper

THE HIGH LONESOME BLUES

The High Blue Lonesome





15 x 22 inches
Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press paper

Made a few changes to this and like it better now.  

THE PATH TAKEN

The Path Taken



15 x 22 inches
Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press paper



I think I'll go back in and scumble up the path a bit so it doesn't look so smooth.

I did make a few changes to the path.  Still could be better but...whatever.

STORM CLOUDS

Storm Clouds Over the Valley






11 x 15 inches on Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press paper

CLOUDS

The Clouds Teased the Forest






11 x 15 inches on Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press paper

COLD BLUES

The Cold Blue




11 x 15 inches, Fabriano Artistico 140# coldpress paper



Most of these are done very wet-in-wet without going back in to make changes or darken (although they do have a tendency to be very pale).  I liked this one the way it stood when dry because I added Cerulean Blue thick from the palette to make it colder.  

FIELD STORM

The Last Plowed Field




15 x 22 inches
Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press





Should have left the house out of this one and it would have been more dramatic, I think.  Oh, well, they all can't be winners.

BLUE RIDGE

Blue Ridge




11 x 15 inches 
Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press

MARSHY

Meandering




11 x 15 inches on Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press paper

HEATWAVE

Melting:  90 Degrees in Anchorage, Alaska, July 2019




11 x 15 inches

STORM CLOUDS

The Storm Clouds are Here




Still using granulating and opaque pigments on very wet paper.


11 x 15 inches, Fabriano Artistico 140# coldpress paper