My 30 day challenge to paint in gouache is complete. I think it is somewhat of a success too. There were certainly days that didn’t work out so well, but that is mainly because I didn’t have a very good reference, wasn’t in the mood to paint, or a combination of both.
This last week, I bought some additional gouache colors that I want to try out. While painting days 22 and 26 (the skull and flower still lifes) it occurred to me that I couldn’t produce good purples or pinks with the red I had. I hadn’t ever used Naphthol Red so I didn’t know how it would behave. It is a very warm red similar to Cadmium red so I purchased Pyrrol Red in the hopes that it would make better cool mixes. I’ve also never used Pyrrol Red so we’ll see.
The other new colors I bought are Rich Gold, Hansa Yellow, Dioxazine Purple. I also bought a large 59 ml tube of Zinc White, more Azo Yellow, and Burnt Umber. In the case of Burnt Umber, I wanted to see if there was a difference between brands because I don’t like the Winsor & Newton Burnt Umber very much. I didn’t know if it was a property of the pigment that prevents it from rehydrating very well or if it was just brand specific. I use the color a lot so it is worth it to me to find out if it’s something I have to learn to live with or not. All of the new paints I bought are M. Graham except for the Rich Gold which is from Holbein.
My favorite paintings from this challenge all have good reference photos in common. I was so uninspired by my remaining photos that I ended up taking the opportunity to photograph a two day old cow my sister in law brought over. It was rejected by its mother and couldn’t be left alone so she brought him with her to our dinner party. I can only imagine what my neighbors think when they see baby pigs and cows running around my yard.
It was a fun challenge to paint white fur on white paper. I’m pleasantly surprised by my results, but I did purchase some toned paper to experiment with in the future. I know I could have just painted in the background, but I really do like the clean look of no background.
Unlike my previous 30 day challenges, I think I’m going to genuinely try to continue painting with gouache every day for a while. Usually, by the time 30 days is up I’m feeling a bit burnt out, but this time I feel pretty good. I’m inspired by a bunch of the reference photos I recently took and I want to keep painting.
I like what you did..
Thank you Barbara.