Al Fresco Art Club Challenge...Yet Another Gouache Day
/I paint with gouache one day a week for about one terrifying hour. My pulse quickens and I feel a guttural trembling as I unpack my gear. I’m afraid that what I paint will look dreary and dull. I choose a simple subject — a coffee cup, a simple cylinder — because I think I may be able to paint it easily. But when I start to look at the cup closely to determine the colors I’ll use, I notice a thousand shades of gray. I notice that the shadow inside the cup is slightly brighter than the shadow outside the cup. It’s the reflected light inside the cup that makes it brighter.
At this point I think, it’s all getting too complicated. I surrender and just start painting the dark shapes, then the slightly less dark shapes, then the light shapes, and then the highlights. All of sudden the painting starts to look awesome. I like it. I’m amazed that I could actually paint a cup.
