Peony in Gouache

A few weeks ago my friend Barbara brought some of her beautiful peony blooms to me.  So of course I had to try to create a lasting image of it.  I used gouache paint in a semi-transparent application.  I'm working toward using it more opaquely, but so far I tend to water it down a bit.  The goal was to show the delicacy of the petal texture and the soft slight pinks and yellows in the shadows.

Another gouache painting--a still life

This painting is one that I've tried in several settings and with several mediums.  Later I will post a colored pencil version of this.  However, I did enjoy finding the correct combinations of colors to create the look of a brown egg.  The saucer is part of an inherited set of Desert Rose china.   As always shadows intrigue me. 

Green Shades - working with gouache

It's been a long time, I see, since I last added anything to my blog.  I have been painting and drawing, but just not posting.  We also moved and downsized our living area so I'm getting acquainted with my new smaller work space.  I have been fascinated by reading information posted by James Gurney and Lena Revo regarding their use of gouache, a medium I had not tried previously.  So, that has been my new adventure.  I've always loved watercolor, but felt it was out of my control most of the time.  The gouache gives me a second and third chance to correct and/or modify my first strokes.

I will be posting a few of these images as I explore this medium.  Today is a "portrait sketch" of a young man which I downloaded from the pexels.com website.  I'm just giving it a working title of "Green Shades."  It is executed using gouache in a mostly transparent mode, but with white mixed in occasionally to give me the opaqueness to paint over certain areas.  I've posted the original photo also.