Hey, friends!
This week has been one of discovery in my studio. I decided to “play” with a different medium by swapping out my normal watercolor with gouache and adding a bit of colored pencil to see where that leads. I don’t think about myself as a mixed media artist – mostly because when I try to emulate other mixed media artists, their combination of materials and processes, I make a mess instead of the intuitive, interestingly textured art they create.
I decided to be kind to myself by swapping out just one thing - gouache for watercolor. I chose gouache because it’s a water-based medium similar to watercolor and yet very different. Its color particles are heavier so when you lay it down, it doesn’t disperse and move around the way watercolor can. It also has a velvety texture, especially when used thickly. But I love how it can be applied in thin, watery layers as I did in my project so that the dried underlayer peeks through the layers applied on top.
Using gouache meant I had to alter my process of ink first and color last. Since gouache is opaque even when applied as a wash, it would cause my ink lines to fade if applied last. Instead, I had to block in the color first, and I’ll admit I rely on my line work to be the foundation of my artwork. In this instance, line work along with colored pencils became the “finishing” element, and I found that I could be more sparing. By letting the color be the scaffolding of the piece, my line work became much more subtle.
I’m happy with how the piece turned out and I’ve already started another using the same materials and process. I encourage swapping out your usual media for something new in your journals – if you use graphite pencils, try substituting two complementary colored pencils (red/green, blue/brown, yellow/purple) or like I did swap out your watercolor for gouache, and see what happens!
xoSusannah
P.S. In other news, I’m putting the finishing touches on our project, Expedition of Wonder, and will send out an email explaining what it’s about and what we are going to do together in 2024. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and dare I say even enlightening! Look for an email sometime later in the week!
Web-Only: Carolina Wren Illustration Experiment