Here’s my sketchbook tour for February. Currently I love doing bird studies (as well as simply watching them), and I’m exploring painting in gouache a bit more. I might need to start a separate sketchbook for these studies, to keep them all in one place.
Here is a video version of this post:
Click here if you can’t see the video.
A page of bramblings. These small winter guests are not very common here. I did a video version showing how I sketch this page and add color. Click here to watch it.
The first of my gouache studies. In these sketches, I’m concerned with light and color, not so much with painting a quick journal page. I love gouache as a painting medium, it’s opaque watercolor and very versatile. I’m still finding out how to handle it for the effects I want. In this painting, I was interested in the light and the atmosphere of these stone stairs.
A few snout studies of mammals. Interesting how different they all are.
Another winter landscape in gouache, again my main interest is how the light is hitting the snow and the grass. I worked from a reference here but I remember the day I took that photo and I hope to become good (and quick) enough to do these small paintings on location. As for making art outside, I’ve always preferred a very small setup: sketchbook & pencil, maybe a small watercolor palette, but maybe I should try plein air painting.
A page with barn owls: preparing for a more detailed painting of this beautiful bird.
A page of eagle owls. They are the biggest owls around here, really massive birds.
A page of raptors, a red kite on the left, and a kestrel on the right. Doing bird studies in flight can be tricky, it’s either a great way to train your memory, or to take out a really good camera. I don’t particularly like the layout of these pages, but that’s what happens if you just want to get that pose on paper.
That’s it for this month, this sketchbook tour was a bit shorter, since I did a lot of gouache exploration that should not see the light of the day. I’ve grown very accustomed to watercolors in the last few years, and gouache handles quite differently in some places, although both are water media and can be mixed very well
Have you ever tried gouache? Would you like to see more of it? Let me know in the comments!
Hi Julia!
I love how are you used gouache for such beautiful light effects on the grasses. I would love to know more about gouache. I am working with watercolours on a learning journey and have used white gouache just a little. I’m curious about gouache —it would be great if you wrote a post and made a video showing how to use it and what it can do. Thanks very much, Julia!
Hi Susan, noted! 🙂 Gouache is such a versatile medium, and it combines well with watercolors. And thank you!!
Ditto what Susan said. I bought some goauche but haven’t tried it yet. Am just getting familiar with w/c but everywhere I look, people are talking goauche and I don’t know where to begin.
Hi Sheila, just take it one step at a time – if you’re happy with exploring watercolors, then do it! Gouache won’t run away. Both are water-based mediums, so easy to combine if you want, but they can handle a bit differently. I always like to explore one single new thing very intensely for a while, before I focus on the next – that’s usually the best way to learn a new skill. 🙂
Julia…you are so talented 🙂
I look forward to receiving your emails each week…wish you would occasionally do one on calligraphy.
Thank you Kathleen! I have no plans for new calligraphy posts right now, but who knows, maybe I’ll return to it some day! 🙂
Love gouache & often use it, unashamedly, (purists gasp here) in my watercolors.
Thank you for your generosity, Julia.
Happy painting all
I do the same. And Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent did, too. So I’d say we’re in good company. 🙂
Julia, I love seeing your sketchbook work. Your really are amazing. I have tons of time on my hands but it’s hard to get going on art. My sister and I do Google hangouts for art sessions together. This happens twice a week.
Keep up the wonderful work. I love the grass painting. The snow looks so real!
Take care,
Irene from Canada
Irene, those hangout sessions sound like a wonderful idea, what a great way to make art and spend time with your sister! Thank you for your kind words!
Hi Julia,
I just wonder why did you decide to make your landscapes in Gouache instead of just keeping things simple and continue using watercolours, which is the medium that you say are used to most.
Thanks
Berta from Canada
Hi Berta,
good question! From time to time I like to challenge myself to keep my art routine interesting for me, and I always try to go after the things I feel drawn to at the moment. For me that happens to be gouache paint lately. I still paint a lot in watercolor! 🙂
Julia,
Those stone steps are just gorgeous! I love gouache, have been using it a lot lately, but don’t really know what I’m doing yet. Practice, practice, practice! But I really enjoy its versatility and how ‘forgiving’ it is….make a mistake? Paint right over it!
Lynn
Thank you Lynn, much appreciated! I too love how easy it is to paint over things that didn’t turn out well in gouache. Sometimes I paint over half of my painting! 😉