I really enjoyed this class! I went all out on the prep, as I want to use these chips as continual project inspiration over the years. I sliced up a large sheet of 140lb watercolor paper for robustness – the rotary cutter couldn't handle this weight of paper, so I used a blade & grid cutting mat for measure. 

 

I unearthed old tubes of gouache paints as my medium of choice. I chose to only mix with gesso and water - using flat brushes that already lived a good life and had bit more life left!! To keep colors clean, I changed my large water pot several times, wiped off excess paint and mixed new colors with clean water. 

 

Only worked in the range of cool colors (left side of the palette), plus gesso white and the two grey shades on the right, to mix tints & shades.

Very meditative and a bit addictive too! Listened to podcasts and the sound of birds – painted as the sun set and wrapped up with (above) progress shot taken under indoor light, which messed with the colors of the chips :(

 

 

For now, this is the mid-way point of painted chips – photographed with natural light, which captures them well.

I'm drawn to the muted colors of nature, and it really shows here. I love the accent pop of spring green!

 

I'll continue this exercise, exploring warmer colors and I'm excited to used opera pink and greens for unusual hues.

 

Hope you're inspired by my process and the outcome. Thanks Esther!!

 

Adding size ref' as a friend has asked... The point of using cutting mat was to measure with grid ref – making it safe & easy to cut 100's chips in 90 mins!