I’m continuing to enjoy painting with gouache. It allows me to do things that watercolors do not and creates a different mood. I’ve been keeping an eye out for inspiration-mostly pictures taken by local photographers as I’m not leaving the house much. I’m so looking forward to warmer weather and getting to paint outside!
This gouache painting of the Palouse was inspired by a photo taken by John Clement photography. We have so many talented and adventurous photographers in here in the Inland Northwest. It was featured in the Spokane Coeur D’Alene Living Magazine.
Having seen John (and other’s) inspiration, I decided to do a couple small gouache paintings of Palouse landscapes-focusing the the ability of snow to highlight the rows of wheat stubble.
Moonrise.
More gouache, this time to capture the Duncan Gardens in the snow, which I feel makes this formal garden magical even without the abundance of flowers for which it is famous. This was also featured in my Artist’s Eye on Spokane column with Spokane Coeur D’Alene Living Magazine.
This time of year, I like to work on Christmas related projects. It is still cold and there’s frequently snow (though not much this year) so that helps me get in the mood. I find it really hard to work on Christmas stuff when the weather is warm but when the weather cools in fall and things start ramping up toward the holiday season it gets so crazy for me it is hard to find the time to be in the Christmas spirit, never mind paint Christmas scenes, so doing it now works really well for my schedule and simultaneously helps me feel a bit festive about the weather when I might otherwise be frustrated that it is still cold and dark.
Final version of this painting, sketch in the photo above. This image is based on a photo taken by Paige Gullickson. I love how she caught the Pavilion in the background and the snow was so much fun to paint. This will be a Christmas card for next year.
Every year I buy an amaryllis bulb so I have the flowers to watch in the dead of winter. They are dramatic as they unfurl and stay in bloom for quite some time, bringing cheer to my studio.
They are even quite pretty when they are fading!
How are you all coping these days? Buying flowers? Reading good books or going for walks? I’m doing all of those things (Plus painting the living room wall and selling the couch and other home improvement flurries!) and looking forward to the slowly returning light!