sketching at one remove

North Lake Union, 5" x 7", watercolor on gessoed panel

Okay, I'm going to try to take a note from the pages of my betters and get back to creating and posting a painting every day. That, in fact, was the whole idea, wasn't it? Here is one from last evening, a little watercolor sketched on metallic-gold-gessoed hardboard from a photograph I took not so long ago "across the street" from studio. Don't think the metallica quite shows through but it may look interesting when I get this fixed with gloss acrylic or mineral spirits varnish.

jazz night

Trying to figure out how to get luminous color jazz going in a permanent medium that doesn't need protection from the elements. Love the way gouache sits up on gessoed board; want to get acrylic to do the same so I don't have to spray-varnish. Meanwhile, here is my latest such experiment with gouache. 9 x 12. Still in the first glow with this one, I admit I love it!

flowerpot experiment

So I got a little crazy and started painting with gouache on a little piece of black-gessoed hardboard; liked the way the paint beaded up and waited to dry... then I varnished it with acrylic spray varnish and, voila! it's rich and shiny (can't see that here) and no need to put glass over this medium anymore; no need to frame it if it's painted on a hangable board. Makes me too happy altogether! This was my little 4x4 experimental thingy.