Elephants on parade

This is definitely the best piece so far! I had some small pieces of clayboard lying around, so I decided to use that. I also used more layers of thicker paint, and I let the ink dry overnight, which was probably the most important improvement.

Gouache Fun

I had high hopes for this piece....the colors were great, and the ink was very black when I applied it. And then came the rinsing.....You never know what's going to happen when you rinse off the water, and I guess that is part of why people love gouache. What I did not expect was for all of my vibrant colors to completely wash off and for half of it to still be covered in ink. Hmmmm....why did this happen? Right now I think I just didn't wait long enough for the ink to dry. I figured 45 minutes or so was plenty of time, but it may not have been. Also, I think my layers of paint were too thin. I also had the same problem as the first piece with the paper ripping. I'm using professional grade 140lb cold press paper, so I wasn't sure what could be causing this. After it was semi-dry, I went back and added some color to the frog, but I don't like the way the ink spots now look washed out.

I have another idea to improve my technique, so we'll see what happens.

I'd like to add that this was not enhanced in Photoshop like the previous painting.

Don't resist

I just discovered the gouache resist technique and I fell in love with it! This is my first attempt. The only gouache I had was an old tube of white, so I decided to draw a polar bear. When rinsing off the ink, I rubbed too hard and ended up tearing the paper. The ink I used was also a little too watered down (I don't think I'll add any water to the next one). I adjusted the levels in Photoshop to make the black darker (it was more gray in the original). After the entire piece dried, I went back with some watercolors to add color to the sky and some shadows. I think I'm going to love this technique! I just bought a cheap gouache set, so stay tuned for more!