Gouache Sketches in My Nature Journal

One of the beautiful possibilities in using a brown craft paper nature journal is that you can paint with gouache, and light tones, like this moth, pop off the page visually. 

I found this tiny moth on a nature walk in the park one quiet afternoon.  You can see from the grass blades in the photo, that it was quite small.  I enjoyed making the tiny large in my nature journal.

 

The moth is called a Confused Euscara (Euscara confusaria), and its wingspan measures about 1.25 inches.  I'm guessing the "confused" part of its name comes from the fact that it looks like a dead leaf.  When I hovered my phone right over top of the little moth to take its portrait, it didn't move a muscle, acting just like a dead leaf!

Wingstem bloomed along the trail, and I snapped a photo, then painted the flowers later in my studio.

Each medium has its own magic.  I hope you find an art supply you enjoy and make some sketches.  See where it leads you!

Happy Creating!

Gouache Sketch of a Bridge

Another recent hike went by so fast that I used reference photos taken during the adventure to create this gouache sketch in my nature journal.

This old bridge near the park office called out to be painted.

And it exemplified the day -- sunny and bright with its own enchantment.

I made a pencil sketch and painted over with gouache -- light washes for the background, and thicker mixtures of paint for the trees, clouds and other details.

A lovely way to remember a lovely day's hike!

Happy Creating! 

Mushroom Art

Out on hikes of late, I haven't had time to paint on the spot. Instead, I take photos and create when I get back to my studio.

This little mushroom caught my eye as I hiked by its rotting stump high up on a wooded hilltop.  I used gouache paint to make a nature journal entry from the reference photo.

Gouache paint is opaque when thick, and will cover right over your initial pencil drawing as mine did here.

Gouache's opacity allows you to paint light colors over darker backgrounds.  I find this ability lets me create lots of exciting details. So much so, that I get carried away as I did in the version above, and the background distracts the eye from the focal point.

Too many details!

It's easy to fix this problem.  I painted a thin wash over the background to tone down the highlights, and pop the mushroom forward. 

If you try out gouache, you'll find the trickiest bit is getting the paint thickness just right for your application -- thin washes apply like watercolor, and will cover a larger area, but will be more transparent.  You'll need a thicker consistency of paint to cover dark tones with lighter spots.  

With gouache, you start with the background, laying in general shapes, colors and tones, and then you add the foreground parts and more detailed areas. 

Start with a limited palette of colors -- here, I used ultramarine blue, burnt umber, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, lemon yellow and zinc white. Put a small blob of each color of paint on your palette, and make sure to keep the paint moist by spritzing it with a small spray bottle of water.

You can experiment freely, knowing that you can paint over any mistake.

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal: September Sun

I took myself out for an art date to the most charming park, where these wild sunflowers were blooming under the bluest sky. 

I snapped a ton of photos in the park. Back in my studio, I pulled up this one to create a gouache painting in my nature journal.

Sometimes, when you look at a landscape, it can seem overwhelming.  So many details!

Try simplifying the scene.  That means you get to pick the part of the landscape that appeals to you, and add limited details, expressing other parts of the scene simply as shapes of color and value. Or leaving them out entirely.

Remember, you're the artist.  You decide what to paint, and how to paint it.

When you're done, prop your artwork somewhere you can see it as you pass through your home.  It will grow on you, and you will see things you hadn't noticed before. 

I was frustrated with this painting in the moment, feeling it wasn't working.  I left it for half a day, and came back later, realizing it captured the essence of that afternoon in the park.  Now I like it.

I hope you find a spot in nature to sit and sketch, paint or snap photos.

Happy Creating!

The Artist's Eye & the Camera

On a hike back in April, I made a rough sketch in my nature journal of the central tree in this photo.

I didn't have time to finish the drawing, so I took the photo, thinking I'd finish later with a gouache painting over top.

Scrolling through my photos later, I nearly deleted this picture, as it's just not a good nature photo.  But, it is a good reference for my purposes.

I used it when painting this scene right over top of the original pen sketch I made in my nature journal.

I'm sure you can see plenty of variations between my painting and the reference photo.

I often tell my students, "You're not a camera, you're an artist!" 

You don't have to perfectly render any part of the real world.  

There's no requirement to make photorealistic art.

Realistic drawings and paintings are valid, fantastic pursuits, but you, the artist, don't see things the way a camera does.  You have feelings, and interests that focus your attention on certain portions of any scene.  You likely will become fascinated by one bit in a larger scene, for me it was this tree. That fascinating part of the larger scene is where the magic is. 

Let your eyes dwell in the places that attract them. Stay true to your personal vision. Never feel you must draw or paint every part of a scene.  Simplify.

What makes artwork sparkle is your enchantment with what you're drawing or painting.  You'll notice that the part of a drawing that comes alive is often the part that you delighted in looking at and drawing.  

Let the painting or drawing grow out of that one bit that caught your eye. For me in this case, it was the dark, crooked tree limbs held against the sky, with fresh spring growth just unfurling.  It was the spring bringing color to a landscape that had been winter drab for too long. 

Next time you're out for a walk, notice what catches your artist's eye.  What in the world holds magic for you?  What enchants you? Let your eyes dwell there.  

If you have time, make a sketch, take a photo, embark on an artwork, and show the world your artist's vision of what's fascinating to you.

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024. All rights reserved.

Tiny Art: Morel Mushroom

Out hiking the other day, we found this morel mushroom under a bower of Christmas ferns.  I snapped this photo and then painted the scene in gouache in my studio.

I'll bet you could scroll through your phone right now and find a photo of a flower, or other inspiring bit of nature you'd like to make a drawing or painting of.  

Making it small and simplifying the scene will help to prevent feeling overwhelmed.

Remind yourself that you're just going to play around with art supplies.

When you're done, set it aside and come back to it a day later.   It took me about 12 hours to decide I liked my little gouache painting in my nature journal.

Happy Creating!

Tiny Art Journal

I just finished teaching my Tiny Art class at the Community College of Beaver County.  We had a wonderful time painting small natural items with gouache.

For our final project, we made journals using old books and book covers, and mounted our paintings inside.

I removed the text from an old, tattered textbook, and refilled it with 140# watercolor paper cut to size.

I simply tied the folded pages in with a thick piece of cotton string. No sewing or binding required!

My class demonstration paintings are mounted on the pages within.

Several pages remain blank at the back -- space to add new paintings to my book.

I love the handwriting in old books, and the worn, yellowed look. It adds character.

I invite you to take a class with me.  For a list of my upcoming classes in Beaver & Washington Counties, PA, follow this link:

https://ccbc.coursestorm.com/

Click on "Arts" 

You can also check out my "Take a Class with Betsy" page here: https://betsyblissart.blogspot.com/p/online-art-classes.html

Happy Creating!

Gouache Apple Blossoms Painting

On a rainy, cold Friday afternoon, I cut several twigs from an apple tree blooming in my yard for my Tiny Art class students to paint.

Before class, I made a small painting, starting with a pencil sketch of one of the flower clusters.

The next step was to lay in areas of color and tone -- larger areas of white flower petals, and green leaves.

When painting with gouache, you start with larger shapes and work from general to specific, from larger shapes to finer details.

I layered on details -- shadows and highlights, veins in leaves, and the little stamens within the apple flowers.

I finished with details on the twig -- the bark wrinkles, the green lichen spots.

Above is the finished painting.

Are you feeling creative? I hope you'll make a sketch or painting of the apple blossoms pictured at the top of this post.

Happy Creating!

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024.  All rights reserved. 

Tiny Art!

Today begins my Tiny Art class at the Community College of Beaver County.  I'm looking forward to class!  

We will be making small paintings of tiny things like flowers, snail shells, seashells, butterflies, feathers, and whatever else inspires us.

Right now, so many tiny buds are opening in nature, unfurling flowers & miniature leaves.  It seems the ideal time to make tiny art.

Above is a photo of Spring Beauty, a native wildflower now blooming.  Its blossoms are 1/2 inch wide, and when you get down close to the flower, you'll see tiny pink veins in the petals.

We will be painting our tiny subjects with gouache, an opaque paint that allows us to layer light marks on top of darker areas.  

Here is a nature journal entry I made with gouache, finishing the details with colored pencils.

If you'd like to take a class with me in person, you can check my class schedule here:  https://betsyblissart.blogspot.com/p/online-art-classes.html

And, you can follow this link to my CCBC Continuing Education Classes: https://ccbc.coursestorm.com/

Click on "Arts" under Beaver County and Washington County and you'll find my classes among the other art courses offered there. Each instructor's name is listed with the course descriptions.

I hope to see you in a class soon! 

Painting in a Campground

A Wednesday afternoon in the state park campground provided a quiet woods with plenty of picnic tables for me to sit and paint at.  

Now that school is back in session, demand for campsites during the week is low, so tents and occupied campsites were few and far between.

I took advantage of the peaceful woods, finding a beautifully weathered and gnarled maple tree to paint in my 6"x 9" Soho kraft paper nature journal.

 I began with a rough pencil sketch, then began mixing colors and painting larger shapes and slowly added more details.  I focused on the bright highlights and dark shadows on the maple, and made sure to lay in a variety of greens in the forest canopy background.  

I ran out of time before I finished on location, so I took a few photos of the scene and finished the painting later at home.

Before I left, I wrote:

Sun-dappled woods.  An old, knobby maple tree in the campsite catches my eye -- packed with holes, warty, mossy & worn -- you know it has stories to tell.

Looking back at this entry, I remember the freshness of the air, the peace of the woods, and the mosquitoes!  And how I hiked down the hill to meet David for a paddle on the lake below.  The beauty of a September afternoon is recorded for me to visit whenever I wish.

I hope you take some time to record what is going on in nature around you today.  

Happy creating!

Autumn Colors in Gouache

Our Grandmother Sugar Maple has already started her autumn color show. I sat outside with my nature journal and gouache paints to capture her beauty while her colors were still fresh.

I started with a simple pencil sketch, then painted in the bold colors, starting with the reds and oranges, and building up greens and dark shadows, finishing with the sky and background trees and the meadow plants in the foreground.

Gouache allows you to paint light over dark because it can be applied thickly enough to be opaque.  Essentially, any mistakes you make are endlessly changeable, which lends a feeling of freedom any time you embark on a painting.

What's your favorite art supply to use?  Try it out in a nature journal! You can use nearly any art material -- aside from oil paints -- to record your observations.

When you're done, you'll have a record of your time in nature that you can return to again and again, virtually saving the beauty of an autumn morning for those dark winter evenings when you long for color.

Whatever the season you find yourself in, there is always something fascinating going on in nature. I hope you'll make a record of it today! 

Kale by Sunset Light

One recent evening, after a day of talking with lots of people, I was "peopled out." Needing a reset, I sat at my art worktable and gazed out the window to my vegetable garden.  

A curly kale plant caught the late day light, and I reached for my gouache paints to express the beauty of the sun glowing through the kale leaves.

I made a very rough pencil sketch of leaf positions, and started painting.

Gouache dries so quickly, I could paint the main leaves, then add details over top, like veins & highlights.

The colors I used were: Cadmium Yellow Pale, Hansa Yellow, Phthalo Blue, Pyrrol Red, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, & Zinc White.

I painted on Saunders Waterford watercolor paper (cream, NOT surface, 140#) from St. Cuthberts Mill

I find the high contrast light to dark areas please my artist's eye. Little details like this are good to know about yourself.  What are your favorite things to paint or draw?  Do you have favorite lighting or colors?  

Next time you're waiting in line or taking a walk, look around and see what catches your eye.  Practicing seeing like this sets you up to be ready to sketch or paint because you know what you enjoy.

I hope you find time this week for some creative self care.  Give yourself the gift of time tucked away to yourself, playing with your art supplies.  

Happy Creating!

Nature Journaling with Gouache

Another canoe trip on Raccoon Lake with my nature journal yielded pages of rough pencil and ink sketches of a Great Blue Heron perched above us in a hemlock tree.

Back at home, I added gouache, painting from memory, to fill in the scene.

A half-submerged log near the shore caught my eye as we paddled by and I only had time for a very rough sketch of its shape.  The log had wildflowers growing out of the spongy, decaying wood.

The amazing thing about gouache is that you can fix any mistake.  Above is the finished version of my painting.  Below are two steps along the way. I took photos with my phone to help me see the big picture, and each photo showed me something I wanted to fix.

The first one had a brown streak in the reflection that needed to be blended in.

I added some gray paint over top and around the edges to soften them.

After fixing the streak, I took another photo and noticed that the log's reflection was wider than the log itself.

I painted over the log reflection with greens and browns on the left side.  The result is below.

This photo trick magically helped me to see the big picture, and areas that needed work were obvious.

Other ways to take stock of an artwork are to step back 3 feet from it, or to look at its reflection in a hand mirror.

Sometimes, just stepping away from my painting and coming back later helps get my head out of the details so I can see what needs to be done.

When I no longer see things that I want to work on, the painting is done!

I hope you'll try some of these techniques, and that you'll take time for your art this week.

Happy Creating!

First Autumn Leaf Painted in Gouache

I've been taken by the medium gouache, a type of paint that is water-soluble like watercolors, but is opaque, so you can paint light colors over top of darker colors as long as you use a thick consistency.

I love that I can paint in the large shapes and colors, then add details.

Watercolor has long been a favorite medium of mine, but you must paint from light to dark. If there is a bright detail (like the yellow veins on the leaf above), you have to either avoid painting those tiny spaces with darker paint, or use a masking fluid to keep those little bits unpainted.

Gouache lets you paint right over anything you like!

So, this year's first colorful leaf of autumn was painted with gouache.

Every medium has its own magic.  I find that making explorations in art leads me to new discoveries like my new joy in gouache.

I hope you'll make explorations in whatever medium appeals to you.  

Start with what you have at hand, even if that's a pencil on paper.  

The more you create, the more ideas and inspiration build for you.

Happy creating!

Cloud Study

After painting the lake from a canoe (See my post: Nature Journaling from a Canoe), I was taken by the way I could paint fluffy summer clouds decking a brilliant blue sky, and so I made this study using white gouache and phthalo blue watercolor paints.

I sat on my front porch and watched the sky, painting the clouds I saw floating by.  Of course, the clouds were constantly moving and changing, so I let the clouds morph on the paper, too. 

Making studies is a wonderful way to explore a part of the landscape, to practice your painting or drawing skills, and to simply relax.  There's no pressure to make a "pretty" picture, because you  know you're just making a study.  You're not creating a composition, just exploring and playing.

What catches your eye today?  Your cat's ear, a zinnia bloom, a fresh apple in a bowl on the kitchen counter -- make a study of it!  

Studies and sketches are a great way to warm up and get your creativity flowing.

Happy creating!

Inspiration from an Old Stump

Out on a hike with my Nikon D-70s, I found this battered stump just as I was returning to my car at sunset.  The vibrant moss and the wild tangle of vines caught my eye, and I snapped a photo.

At home, I downloaded the file to my computer and set up my studio for painting.

I made a quick pencil sketch, and broke out my gouache paints.  Gouache is like watercolor paint, but opaque if you keep it thick. 

I love taping off the margins on a nature journal page, and then setting to work laying in the colors -- big areas first, then delving into the delightful details.

Of course, I picked out the details I liked and painted the rest in generalities.  At the end, that's the beauty -- we get to focus on the parts of the scene that inspire us.  We're not creating another photograph, but a painting.  And in that painting, we express our artist's eye & our spirit.  

May you get to follow your artist's eye and express your spirit soon!

The Beauty of Limitations: Recent Gouache Paintings

I recently was inspired to try gouache after seeing some original paintings by Pittsburgh artist Joan Brindle at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination.  Her rich colors and lush landscapes drew me in.  I admired the way that she used repeated strokes in water ripples and grass stalks. 

I pulled out my 5 tubes of Winsor & Newton gouache: Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Yellow Pale & White.

I laid a 3 x 3 grid over a reference photo, and cropped the image until I got a pleasing composition. After making a quick pencil sketch, I began painting.  

The limited palette would seem like a hindrance, but it turned out to be an artistic advantage.  I mixed the paint to match as close as I could to what I saw, but with only five colors, exact color matches weren't possible.  How freeing to know I couldn't be perfect, so I could focus on getting close enough.  

The resulting paintings had a wonderful feeling of unity and harmony due to the narrow color palette.  And because gouache is opaque, I could paint light colors over darker colors.  

The white clouds in the November scene above were created by leaving the paper unpainted, then adding shadows, but the light colored grasses along the roadway were painted over the green. I liked the effect of repeated grass strokes in pale yellow, green and indigo blue.

An autumn color scene.

Summertime goldenrods along the fence with the neighbors' cowpasture.

An Anglewing butterfly from a reference photo by Brad Silberberg.

A Canada Goose in winter from a reference photo by Brad Silberberg.

A new medium changes how we see possibilities, and gives us a new venue to express our creativity.