Monthly Retrospective: July 2024

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I finally had a place to work, so I did more painting in July than June. Not everything I painted worked for me, but these eight did. I also began experimenting with acrylic gouache!

Watercolor

I was feeling kind of homesick for New England which made me not want to paint either New England or my current area of the PNW, so I found myself painting deserts! Maybe this is why I reached for Cobalt Turquoise so much. I abandoned 30×30 Direct Watercolor in June, but continued to direct watercolor this month. All of these are on Saunders Rough Press. It was fun to experiment with rough, which makes such smooth transitions, but I find myself longing to go back to cold press for easier access to vibrant/dark color and crisper details.

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July 4, 2024. Reference photo by Dan Aragón on Unsplash.
July 6, 2024. Reference photo by Photo by Ryan Klaus on Unsplash.
July 7, 2024. Reference photo from Landscape Art Club’s Sunset Month, July 2024.
July 10, 2024. Reference photo by Grant Longenbaugh, via Olympic National Park on Instagram.
July 12, 2024. Reference photo by Photo by Dylan Sauerwein on Unsplash.
July 15, 2024. Reference photo by Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash.
July 17, 2024. Reference photo by Photo by Will Truettner on Unsplash.
July 27, 2024. Reference photo by Photo by Dan Price on Unsplash.

Acrylic Gouache

Here are my very first sketches in acrylic gouache, on Canson Mixed Media paper.

June 18, 2024. Acrylic gouache sketchbook: Mount Rainier, Poster Style.
June 21, 2024. Acrylic gouache sketchbook: California Poppies.

I intended to do a more involved post after I did three, but I’m not sure how soon that will be! I’m figuring out the basics of the medium – how to do layering, how to mix colors, and so on.

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