hiyaaaa! SO I realized recently that I had never shared a project in a bunch of my SK classes and I wanted to remedy that! So here is a sample project for you to get inspired and maybe do the class, or share your own project if you did it already. :) It's always fun to see stills of each other's process and hear how it went for you! 

 

SO let's start off with first things first. 

 - I made a practice page with the two extremes of gouache consistency (I don't know why, I find this ridiculously fun to do) 

 

 

Then I made a practice page with

 - the creamy texture in-between, and one that goes a bit 'too far'. Again, I'd say there's no "perfect" gouache texture, it's really more about finding a middle ground that feels fun to you, and that you're able to adjust in terms of the type of texture or mood you want to create in your pieceThen I embarked on the 3 color palette, while practicing that 'flat gouache look'. Very fun! 

Then a 4-color palette with varying color values  ( This is one of my faves) 

THEN a color palette based on a theme of your choosing (I picked the 1960s) - this is an exercise I absolutely love to revisit! and I have to say, I also really really love this color palette. 

For our final color palette, we went for 5 colors, and I asked you to choose between a full tonal palette, a 4-color tonal palette + 1 pop of color, OR a a 3-color tonal palette+1other color + 1 neutral: the last option is the one I picked. You can clearly see the tonal nature of the top three colors, then that yummy yellow color underneath which contrasts with it, and finally the neutral sepia which also brings in a nice dark value. 

This one came out very fun and vibrant, and quite different from the other ones I made! 

 

Now that I am confident in the solidity of being able to make those flat gouache gumdrops of paint, I wanted to take some of these color palettes and explore what it would be like to create some paintings with them. 

For the first one, I allowed myself to stay in the abstract, loose and fun, and varying gouache textures, going more or less transparent, and for the extra challenge I decided to 'leave it as is' even though it looks a bit ugly and unfinished — as a reminder that these art pieces are just as valuable as the 'pretty' ones. :) 

 

And then I did ONE final abstract painting with shapes, textures, and patterns, and allowing myself to first, create the big flat opaque shapes we had been practicing during the whole class

 

and THEN to add textures and patterns, and varying stroke thickness to bring this painting to a 'pretty' finish. Because those are fun too :) 

 

 

I had a blast making this class and all the different palettes and paintings too! 
I hope you do too. :) 

and if you want to continue the gouache adventure, you could always apply what you learned in this class which mixes gouache and mixed media, and is a short, sweet and fun adventure into creating your own colorful creatures.
Or if you want a deeper dive, I also have this very in-depth class where we discover and learn everything about color! Color mixing, color theory, color creativity exercises, you name it, it's in there. 

 

I hope you enjoyed perusing this project, and if you did, take it as a gentle invitation from the universe to maybe share yours too!! ;) :) 

all the best

 

Marie-Noëlle