'red 22' ~ watercolors and gouache in stillman and birn 'zeta', 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"

i've been practicing painting with gouache and watercolors right out of the tube - no water added.   it's (usually) best to be patient and let each layer dry before adding another, which i'm not very good at.  the other thing i do is add too much paint - get carried away with layers until i'm confused and don't know whether i'm coming or going.    i do a lot of wiping off...  

colored pencils, graphite, and gouache on collaged and painted page in 'zeta'

the right side of a page - i wiped off most of the paint and then used colored pencils to color the eye and lips back in.  colored pencils never cease to amaze me.

gouche, watercolors, stabilo marks all, and colored pencils in 'zeta'

in the end i wiped almost everything off of this page..

 i liked the smiling dog so i drew a line around him for good measure.   ; )

gouache, stabilo marks all pencil, and watercolors on collaged page in 'zeta'

the page i'm working on now.  i can't see where to go with it, so i'll wait 'til i do.  actually, as i sit here typing, i can see a couple of things right away that  need to change!

but i'm resting from intense gouache education right now...  : )

i wanted to tell you about this staedtler pencil sharpener.  i picked it up a couple of weeks ago at a small art supply store, and it's *the best* handheld pencil sharpener i've tried - and i've tried a bunch.   it's the only sharpener i've found (besides the faber-castell handheld sharpener) that sharpens albrecht durer watercolor pencils.  it sharpens every colored and graphite pencil that i have: tombow, prismacolor, faber castell polychromos, cretacolor, derwent, and lyra.  and that little lid closes so the shavings don't fall out in your bag.

stabilo marks all in stilman and birn gamma - 4" x 6"

i've been having a bunch of fun doing watercolor transfers, which i learned about in this book about gauguin.   all you do is get a piece of watercolor (or any) paper damp (just brush water on until it's damp but not runny wet), then press the damp paper against your watercolor painting - or line drawing, like i've done here.  when you lift the damp paper off you'll have a 'print' of your watercolor.  

on the page above i went over my pencil drawing with a stabilo marks all pencil, then i put a damp piece of watercolor paper (i used saunders waterford 200# cold press) on it, so now i have this image in two places. 

 in case you're wondering, the dark thing in the bottom of the pic is a rock holding the page down... 

watercolors and stabilo marks all in stillman and birn gamma

this is what it looks like now...

watercolors and gouache on arches 100# cotton drawing paper

this is a watercolor transfer of the painting in the last post (in my daily book).  i added more color around the edges, and on her face...

watercolors and gouache on arches 100# cotton drawing paper

from a painting in my daily book - this was the first 'transfer',

watercolors and gouache on arches 100# cotton drawing paper

and this was the second.  of course you can add as much  paint as you want to the new images...    it's truly a lot of fun.

back to the gauguin book...  it's very good and i highly recommend it.  while i love his oil paintings, what stole my heart in the book were his watercolors (and watercolor transfers) and woodblock prints.

colored pencils on rusty can

oh!  the walking days are getting short!

this tree is still alive...