Category Archives: gouache

Painting Experiments

by | 16 Comments

This month I’ve been creating a doodle a day along with several other artists on Instagram (#doodleadayaug). I wasn’t intending to have a theme when I started, but after the first few days, I realized I kept drawing flowers. They are one of my favorite things to draw, so it’s been a fun month!

One doodle in particular inspired me to take the subject a little further.

initial sketches

I enjoyed the sketchy line quality, but felt it could be improved upon with some added color. An idea formulated in my head to do a loose underpainting of color with gouache and then add the sketchy line work on top of it with an acrylic paint marker.

The first step was to print out a quick copy of the original sketch, and transfer each drawing to watercolor paper using graphite transfer paper.

Transferring sketches with graphite paper

I really love the way these taped down sketches look, so I had to share!

Once the doodles were transferred, I painted each one using various colors of gouache. I liked the paintings at this stage, but I felt they were missing something. At this point, I was wondering if the intense black outlines would be “too much,” but I still wanted to go ahead and try out my original idea, just to see what the result would be. One of the thoughts I like to keep in mind when I make art is to not be afraid of “ruining” a painting or drawing by trying something new. True, sometimes ideas don’t translate well, but I figure that if I’ve done something I like once, I can always make it again if I mess up!

all flower paintings, side by side

After seeing the side by side comparison of all the paintings before and after the addition of the black outlines, I’m on the fence about which I like better. I still think that at least some of the paintings without the outlines are missing something, but maybe the black lines are too overpowering?

Taken on their own, I don’t mind most of the outlined versions, but I also wonder if they read as paintings, or just as colored-in drawings. If that’s the case, I could probably achieve this look in a much faster way, maybe using marker or colored pencil instead of paint.

Now that I’ve tried out my idea but am not 100% satisfied with it, I’m planning to redo the paintings to see if I can come up with a result that I really feel is “it”. Instead of outlining with black, I’ll work on adding depth and maybe outlines with more layers/colors of paint. So the experiment will continue!

Do you have a favorite of the above paintings? Do you think the outline works better for one painting more than another? I’d love to hear what you think!

Creative Oops

by | 5 Comments

Last week on twitter, I saw a tweet asking for artists to participate in Joanne Hawker’s Creative Insight column on her blog, Origami Chicken.

Not considering that I would qualify to participate, I re-tweeted the request in the hopes that a talented artist out in twitter land might be interested in participating. Then Joanne asked me if I’d like to do it!

Of course I said yes.

I set aside a few hours one afternoon to make the painting and take the step-by-step shots I would need. I was very organized about it.

I first took photos of my studio to share, then of the supplies I would need, then the paper and how I draw my guide lines. You can see those intro photos in my Creative Insight post on Joanne’s blog. What you won’t see on that post are the following images.

Continuing the process, I snapped shots of my paint selection and how I mix paint and test out the color on paper:
selected colors

mixing

Next I paused to photograph the very first lines that make up the starting shape of the geometric painting.

first lines

Then I applied my first wash to fill in some of the shapes, and the clouds gathered, the wind started to blow, and disaster struck:

ugh

Ok, perhaps I’m over dramatizing a bit. It doesn’t look too bad I guess.

Be that as it may, the paint didn’t do what it was supposed to do. Instead of mostly sitting on top of the paper, or absorbing the paint in the beautiful way watercolor paper absorbs, the paper sucked up the paint and distributed it just under the surface in the not so beautiful way that only drawing paper can. It created a gritty, grainy texture while threatening to wrinkle and warp the paper beyond hope.

Sigh.

Yes, I had mistaken drawing paper for watercolor paper, and I knew I could not continue.

Well, at least not for the post I wanted to write.

But I did continue, taking the opportunity to just keep working on it without expectation. In a way, this was a very freeing mistake because at this point it didn’t matter what I did! To keep it loose, I used the same green paint I already had, focusing more on filling in the space with shapes.

gouache

Even before I was finished painting, I knew I would add detail lines not only with paint, but also with pencil.

gouache and pencil

It didn’t take long to complete this painting once I got over the initial disappointment of choosing the wrong paper. In the end, it was a happy mistake, not only for letting me explore something new, but also to loosen me up for the next painting I created–the one that I did use for the Creative Insight post.

How do you deal with creative “mistakes”? Do they ever derail you, or do you embrace them and incorporate them in unexpected ways?

It’s been far too long since I wrote about my process on my blog, which is always one of my favorite topics to cover. Perhaps you can imagine how much fun I had writing up a process post for Joanne’s column.

Here’s a little sneak peek of the painting I created after the “mistake” painting was finished:

Painting for Creative Insight

Head on over to the Origami Chicken blog to read the details, and also be sure to check out the other wonderful artists and illustrators who have previously written Creative Insight posts!

Misfit Paintings

by | 2 Comments

In my last post, I wrote about some recent paintings I’ve finished in tones of gray. I had a couple of other paintings to share, but they didn’t seem to fit with the last group, so they get their very own post!

In an attempt to re-create a couple of drawings I did in the sketchbooks that Jessica Gowling and I are collaborating on, I painted a composition of little groups of colorful lines, arranged on an imperfect grid.

tapestry

I wasn’t as satisfied with the results of this. I suppose it’s an ok painting in it’s own right, but I don’t feel the same spirit from this painting that I did from those initial drawings. Maybe my expectations were too specific? I still want to pursue this style; hopefully I can figure it out!

The other painting in this misfits post is the first one that started this recent round of paintings.

connected

This was my first attempt to recreate the stone painting from Day 11 in my birthday giveaway. I started painting the shapes of the stones without the help of an underlying sketch. I had wanted to create a horizontal bar of stones across the square paper, but because I hadn’t planned it out, I had a hard time getting the formation I was after. I decided to fill in the entire paper with stones.

I set this aside after the initial gray stones were in place, intent of finishing the two paintings on my to do list. In the end, I had some left over light turquoise paint that I decided to use to embellish this painting. Instead of creating the same pattern of lines overlapping each other on the surface of the stones, I decided to try something a little different: connecting the stone shapes with groups of three lines. I really like this color combination, but I don’t think the painting is quite done at this stage. Keep an eye out for and update!

Wonderfully Gray

by | 10 Comments

I’ve been working on a few paintings over the last couple of weeks. They are all small works in gouache on paper.

I started painting again recently to fulfill a couple of requests I’ve had lingering since my birthday giveaway in June. Hard to believe almost half a year has gone by since then! Both were for the stone painting from Day 11. I’ve been making an effort to check things off my to-do list, and this was a fun task to tackle.

stones

I mixed up a lovely gray color for the stone shapes. In fact, I mixed up a LOT of lovely gray paint, so I had a lot left over. Gray is one of my favorite colors, and I felt sad at the thought of the extra going to waste, so instead of continuing with the stone paintings right away, I decided to make a few other “impromptu” paintings to use up some more of the paint.

round

edges

I didn’t plan either of these out. I started by adding lines at the corners and working my way into the center. They developed in a really natural, instinctive way, which is one of my favorite ways to create. With some of the styles of drawings and paintings that I do, initial planning can be really helpful, but there’s something very satisfying about getting my brush wet with paint and just going for it.

I’m really pleased with these paintings. I find them both soothing and powerful and the same time. And also wonderfully gray!

After a few days had passed, the gray paintings were still on my mind, so I decided to sit down and paint in the same manner and see what I could come up with.

four

I painted a similar radial-style composition. This time I worked from the center out toward the edges, which yielded a slightly more off-center final look. When I was finished and compared this piece with the first two, I was surprised by how different it looked. While they are all still very similar in most ways, I find that the 3rd piece overall has a more refined look, and the brush strokes are more regular. The difference could have resulted from painting from the center to the edges instead of the edges to the center, but it’s still somewhat curious. Maybe I was just in a different mood?

For the last painting I also worked from the center toward the edges, but abandoned the radial composition.

square

I started out with a zig-zag pattern in mind, but it quickly devolved to a less structured texture. The dark gray box in the middle only exists to cover up an area that really bothered me. Because of the way I painted the lines in that section, there was a rounded shape within the pattern, and for some reason it really bugged me! I tried to “fix” it, but before I knew it, I was smushing paint all over that area, and finally painting in the rectangular form. Can you sense my frustration with this piece?

I honestly didn’t think this last painting was going to see the light of day anywhere on the internet, but after setting it aside and looking at it a few days later, something about the painting intrigued me. It’s definitely grown on me, and I really like the texture-pattern area toward the bottom. That was the last section that I filled in, and I think it has potential. It’s irregular and regular at the same time, and I can definitely see doing a larger piece in that style.

What do you think of these paintings? Do you love gray as much as I do, or is there another color you’d be sadder to see dry up, unused on the palette?

20 in 20: June Birthday Bash Giveaway, Winners for Week 5

by | 7 Comments

WOOHOOO!!!! I’ve done it! So happy to have completed this project. Thank each and every one of you who participated in the giveaway. Every single one of your comments helped to keep me going throughout the project and really mean so much to me!

Days 19 - 20

The winners for Days 19 & 20 are:

Day 19: Ellie who said, “eep! here’s my last try. i love this one…seems magical. thank you for sharing your birthday with us & i hope you have a super fabulous day :]”
Day 20: Paulette Beete who said, “What a beautifully complex painting. And styling it in the basket is a wonderful idea. Hmmm, think I’m going to reconsider how I’m framing some of my heart and see if working with some flat baskets might work. Thanks for the inspiration A!”

Congrats to the winners! If you won a painting, get in touch with your mailing address at aisforanika {at} gmail {dot} com (or you can send a DM on twitter if you follow me!) within 72 hours and I’ll send you the painting!

This week I used an overly complicated coin flipping method to ensure that the selection of winners was completely random.

These are the last winners for this giveaway. I know there are a number of commenters who didn’t win one of the paintings, but I’m sure I’ll do another giveaway at some point, so stay tuned! Also planning to open a shop with prints of all the 20 in 20 paintings in the next couple days, so keep an eye out for that as well! Thanks everyone, again, for helping to make this a fun & successful project!

20 in 20: June Birthday Bash Giveaway, Day 20

by | 15 Comments

Woohoo!!! I did it! Today is the last painting for this 20 in 20 giveaway project. I must admit, things got a little rocky for me during the last week or so, but I persevered, and today I can proudly stand back & look at my accomplishment! If you’d like to see an overview of all the paintings, check out my 20 in 20 set on flickr.

Day 20 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

When looking for an item to include in a photo set up for this painting, I was drawn a basket that’s hanging on the wall. Placing the painting in the basket seemed to be the thing to do!

Day 20 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

This is a gouache painting that covers the entire 6in square piece of Fabriano Artistico 140lb paper.

**A quick reminder about the comments this week: This is the last painting! I’ll be announcing the winners of Day 19 & 20 on my birthday tomorrow, June 29th. In order to do that, I’ll be closing comments for both paintings on Wednesday morning. Make sure to get your comments in early so you won’t miss out!**

If you like this painting, leave a comment on this blog post and you’ll be entered to win it. It’s as easy as that! For more information about the giveaway, read the Giveaway Details below.

Many thanks to Abbey Hendrickson from Aesthetic Outburst for providing the inspiration for this project!

Giveaway Details:

  • eligibility: open to anyone worldwide.
  • how to enter: leave a comment on the giveaway post to be entered to win the painting featured in the post. Feel free to enter to win more than one painting, but only one comment per person per post.
  • entry deadline: comments close on the first Sunday morning (EST)* after the post is made (*the exceptions are days 19 & 20 which fall on June 27th & 28th. Days 19 & 20 giveaway posts will close the morning of the 29th, so I can announce the final winners on my actual birthday).
  • winner selection & notification: winners will be chosen at random and announced on the blog each Monday for all the giveaways from the previous week.
  • how to claim your painting: send me an email at aisforanika -at- gmail -dot- com with your mailing address and I’ll send you the painting you won right away! Winners must send me their response with their mailing address within 72 hours (3 days) of the published time of the notification post or they forfeit the prize in which case another winner will be randomly chosen.

20 in 20: June Birthday Bash Giveaway, Day 19

by | 16 Comments

For Day 19′s painting I wanted to paint something in a loose style; to doodle with the paint brush. The “swoops” theme I’ve explored in the past seemed to be just the ticket. I painted this in layers of color, working intuitively to choose colors as I started each new layer. The result is a somewhat busy pattern, but I think it’s interesting to look at. You can take it in as a whole, and then explore each layer by focusing on one color on another.

Day 19 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

Day 19 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

This is a gouache painting that covers the entire 6in square piece of Fabriano Artistico 140lb paper.

**A quick reminder about the comments this week: There is only 1 more painting after this! I’ll be announcing the winners of Day 19 & 20 on my birthday, Wednesday June 29th. In order to do that, I’ll be closing comments for both paintings early Wednesday morning. Make sure to get your comments in early so you won’t miss out!**

If you like this painting, leave a comment on this blog post and you’ll be entered to win it. It’s as easy as that! For more information about the giveaway, read the Giveaway Details below.

Many thanks to Abbey Hendrickson from Aesthetic Outburst for providing the inspiration for this project!

Giveaway Details:

  • eligibility: open to anyone worldwide.
  • how to enter: leave a comment on the giveaway post to be entered to win the painting featured in the post. Feel free to enter to win more than one painting, but only one comment per person per post.
  • entry deadline: comments close on the first Sunday morning (EST)* after the post is made (*the exceptions are days 19 & 20 which fall on June 27th & 28th. Days 19 & 20 giveaway posts will close the morning of the 29th, so I can announce the final winners on my actual birthday).
  • winner selection & notification: winners will be chosen at random and announced on the blog each Monday for all the giveaways from the previous week.
  • how to claim your painting: send me an email at aisforanika -at- gmail -dot- com with your mailing address and I’ll send you the painting you won right away! Winners must send me their response with their mailing address within 72 hours (3 days) of the published time of the notification post or they forfeit the prize in which case another winner will be randomly chosen.

20 in 20: June Birthday Bash Giveaway, Day 18

by | 12 Comments

The progression of Day 18′s painting is interesting in that I started out with what I thought was a straightforward idea and ended up with something I didn’t expect. Before I started the painting, I had intended to draw the circles without the added texture, and then color in all of the little slices with various colors.

I drew the circular shapes freehand, and the first try wasn’t close enough to a circle, so I fiddled with it, adding more lines until the shape was what I wanted. To mask my “mistakes,” I added more, similar lines to create the texture within the circles. At this point, I still intended to color in each of the sections.

I took a break halfway through the coloring, and when I came back I liked what I saw–the areas with only texture lent a nice contrast, and in a way provided more movement than if all the slices were fully colored in.

Day 18 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

Day 18 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

The color of the photos is pretty accurate to the painting, but I wanted to mention that the lightest pink in the photos is quite bright in person. It’s still a very light pink, but it almost glows which adds a lot of energy to the piece. I guess there are just some colors or tones that a camera can’t capture!

This is a gouache painting that covers the entire 6in square piece of Fabriano Artistico 140lb paper.

**A quick reminder about next week: There are only 2 more paintings left to go! I’ll be announcing the winners of Day 19 & 20 on my birthday, Wednesday June 29th. In order to do that, I’ll be closing comments for both paintings early Wednesday morning. Make sure to get your comments in early so you won’t miss out!**

If you like this painting, leave a comment on this blog post and you’ll be entered to win it. It’s as easy as that! For more information about the giveaway, read the Giveaway Details below.

Many thanks to Abbey Hendrickson from Aesthetic Outburst for providing the inspiration for this project!

Giveaway Details:

  • eligibility: open to anyone worldwide.
  • how to enter: leave a comment on the giveaway post to be entered to win the painting featured in the post. Feel free to enter to win more than one painting, but only one comment per person per post.
  • entry deadline: comments close on the first Sunday morning (EST)* after the post is made (*the exceptions are days 19 & 20 which fall on June 27th & 28th. Days 19 & 20 giveaway posts will close the morning of the 29th, so I can announce the final winners on my actual birthday).
  • winner selection & notification: winners will be chosen at random and announced on the blog each Monday for all the giveaways from the previous week.
  • how to claim your painting: send me an email at aisforanika -at- gmail -dot- com with your mailing address and I’ll send you the painting you won right away! Winners must send me their response with their mailing address within 72 hours (3 days) of the published time of the notification post or they forfeit the prize in which case another winner will be randomly chosen.

20 in 20: June Birthday Bash Giveaway, Day 17

by | 18 Comments

I must have been tired when I was mixing the colors for yesterday’s painting. I wanted to mix a lovely gray for the connecting pattern, but I couldn’t get away from the purplish hue. I convinced myself it was gray enough, even though it was decidedly purple. Thank goodness it worked with the other colors!

Today I realized what I’d done wrong. For some reason I had it in my head that if you mix dark blue and dark red, you get a dark gray. I honestly don’t know how I forgot that dark blue and dark brown is the true magic combination for making gray. No wonder I ended up with purple!

For today’s painting I felt that I had to make the gray I’d been looking for yesterday. I revisited an old motif–perfect for fine-line practice, plus I had the intention of using brighter, more saturated colors for the rounded shapes.

Day 17 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

Day 17 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

This is a gouache painting that covers the entire 6in square piece of Fabriano Artistico 140lb paper.

If you like this painting, leave a comment on this blog post and you’ll be entered to win it. It’s as easy as that! For more information about the giveaway, read the Giveaway Details below.

Many thanks to Abbey Hendrickson from Aesthetic Outburst for providing the inspiration for this project!

Giveaway Details:

  • eligibility: open to anyone worldwide.
  • how to enter: leave a comment on the giveaway post to be entered to win the painting featured in the post. Feel free to enter to win more than one painting, but only one comment per person per post.
  • entry deadline: comments close on the first Sunday morning (EST)* after the post is made (*the exceptions are days 19 & 20 which fall on June 27th & 28th. Days 19 & 20 giveaway posts will close the morning of the 29th, so I can announce the final winners on my actual birthday).
  • winner selection & notification: winners will be chosen at random and announced on the blog each Monday for all the giveaways from the previous week.
  • how to claim your painting: send me an email at aisforanika -at- gmail -dot- com with your mailing address and I’ll send you the painting you won right away! Winners must send me their response with their mailing address within 72 hours (3 days) of the published time of the notification post or they forfeit the prize in which case another winner will be randomly chosen.

20 in 20: June Birthday Bash Giveaway, Day 16

by | 23 Comments

I decided to do a geometric pattern for Day 16′s painting.

Day 16 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

Day 16 of my 20 in 20 Giveaway

The colors in real life are closer to those in the second image that shows the detail of the pattern. The peach is SUPER bright, almost florescent, and the dark, bright purple is really rich in person.

This is a gouache painting that covers the entire 6in square piece of Fabriano Artistico 140lb paper.

If you like this painting, leave a comment on this blog post and you’ll be entered to win it. It’s as easy as that! For more information about the giveaway, read the Giveaway Details below.

Many thanks to Abbey Hendrickson from Aesthetic Outburst for providing the inspiration for this project!

Giveaway Details:

  • eligibility: open to anyone worldwide.
  • how to enter: leave a comment on the giveaway post to be entered to win the painting featured in the post. Feel free to enter to win more than one painting, but only one comment per person per post.
  • entry deadline: comments close on the first Sunday morning (EST)* after the post is made (*the exceptions are days 19 & 20 which fall on June 27th & 28th. Days 19 & 20 giveaway posts will close the morning of the 29th, so I can announce the final winners on my actual birthday).
  • winner selection & notification: winners will be chosen at random and announced on the blog each Monday for all the giveaways from the previous week.
  • how to claim your painting: send me an email at aisforanika -at- gmail -dot- com with your mailing address and I’ll send you the painting you won right away! Winners must send me their response with their mailing address within 72 hours (3 days) of the published time of the notification post or they forfeit the prize in which case another winner will be randomly chosen.