It’s not raining, right now, anyway.

These are my two newest, to add to the growing batch of original paintings on wood. Boy I love this stuff. I also really love these two little buddies. The magpie just told me he needed to be painted. The bunny idea has been brewing for a while, and I think I will have to paint a few more.

These are both mostly gouache (pronounced gu-wash, as far as I know), with some acrylic. I find the gouache is really nice on the wood because it’s semi-transparent (like watercolor) but it covers pretty well (unlike most watercolor colors). I mix it with acrylic to get a little opacity (and more permanence and durability) going on and to give a little more life to the creatures. I also love that dried gouache can be rewetted and used again, when I come back to it later, unlike acrylic which dries right up unless stored in an air-tight container or mixed with some kind of extender. {Though I can’t deny how fun it is to peel old acrylic off a palette in one big piece. Very satisfying.}

Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article on gouache, in case you want to know more. I think it’s my new favorite medium. And how fun is it that it is made of pigment, binder (what makes it stick to the painting surface) and chalk?

one of my acrylic painting palettes

Tagged as: bunny, gouache, magpie