I have A LOT of bookmarks, especially for someone who mostly listens to audiobooks. I'm doing these on various mediums and paper types.

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Thoughts now that I've finished this project.

It took me longer than expected, but I'm so glad I finished this tutorial series. I've learned so much, and I feel so much more confident in my gouache skills. I feel ready to try my own compositions now- something I've never felt about any fine-art medium.

For most of these projects, I used a very limited set of colors. I now understand how to mix and blend gouache. I used the same caked over palettes for most of these lessons; I finally understand how to reactivate dried gouache without watering it down.

Thank you for putting this tutorial series together. I look forward to following along with more of your classes!

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Day 1: Sunset

First, loved how easy to follow along this tutorial was. Learned a ton doing this. I made a good share of mistakes, making me really want to try this one again sometime! Also learned a couple things by accident, like:

1. Make sure when you pick up Yellow Ochre gouache, you're not accidentally picking up gold gouache. I never got the grass blends to work quite right, but they are sparkly!
2. I CANNOT draw power lines. The moment I tried, I feel like I ruined this painting. It's gouache, so I can go over parts some, but if I try too much, the paper struggles to handle it. Very open to ideas for covering/fixing them!

 

Day 2: Black Sky

Between this one and the last, I've managed to use up most the extra paints hanging out on my palette trays- so now I can FINALLY clean them! This was a fun exercise that I feel like I can make a ton of in various styles.

Next: I think I want to dedicate a sketch page to green mixes from my limited gouache supply.

 

Day 3: Pastel Sky

I have no sense of perspective, and it's on my to-learn list. But, that's a rather long list. It was fun using up random colors hanging out on my palette for the bushes in this painting. I had all sorts of mess ups occur while making this (different than the ones you showed us), and I feel like they're rather well covered. Thanks for teaching that!

 

Day 4: Daisies

I couldn't get any of my colors as vibrant as yours. I was using leftover colors on my palette though, so maybe there were a few more colors mixed than I realized. 

 

Day 5: Day Sky

The technique for making trees was really cool to learn. But man, power lines are hard!

 

Day 6: Powerlines

LOVE the colors in this! Still really struggling to make power lines. 

 

Day 7: Seascape

I really enjoyed learning the techniques to make this one. Also, enjoyed getting to mix up the teal colors. I messed up my birds, which messed up my sky, but even despite that, I'm real impressed with how easy it is to cover up mistakes, even covering black with yellow! 

 

Day 8: Driving through the Road

 

Day 9: Through the Window

 

Day 10: Into the Clouds

I really struggled with this one. I think I put a lot of pressure on myself because it's SUCH a pretty picture to paint. I love the result, even if it didn't go quite to plan. Wanted to get the lighter parts to look more "sunny"- but it's a real challenge to mix yellow/brown/red without it looking like mud.

 

Day 11: Beach Vibes

 

So, I took a small 7-month break. Was excited to get back into it today. I have a couple ceramic palette pans I was using for these exercises, and they rewet perfectly to continue!

I used my A&O 160gsm dot grid journal for this exercise, and I have regrets. The paper was much too smooth, making it impossible to do the cloud technique. I'm going to try it again on some actual watercolor paper. 

Despite using the wrong paper, this was a wonderful exercise for getting back into the swing of gouache. LOVED painting this!

 

Day 12: Northern Lights

 Oh man! You made the sky look so easy. I struggled hard at blending. Every time I liked one part, I'd end up blending it away. I also forgot to cover yesterday's painting when I was spattering stars, so now it's snowing at the beach. Oh well, lesson learned! Thanks for another great exercise!

Used W&N watercolors: Indigo and Cobalt Turquoise Light. I enjoyed mixing the watercolors with gouache. I found having control of the opaqueness also was helpful during all the blending.

 

Day 13: Mountains

 

Day 14: Meadow

 

Days 15-18

I babysat my infant nephew for a few days, and doing one of these per day between naps kept me sane! Used my little travel notebook with the 88lb paper.

Day 15: Sparkling Waves

Day 16: Floral Spread

Bonus:

Day 17: Sunset

Day 18: Dreamy Landscape

 

Day 19: Night Sky

 

Day 20: Countryside

 

Day 21: Cotton Candy Cloud

I certainly struggled with this one. I got too much white in one area, and it was like an overly thick layer of paint on top of my paper. Also, I have so many different greens on my palette at this point, that it's hard to mix up consistent shades.

 

Day 22: Let it Swing

I can't seem to make straight lines. My swing looks like a deathtrap!

 

Day 23: Palm Leaves

Had trouble visualizing how palm trees natively look. Maybe it's time for a tropical vacation?

 

Day 24: Countryside 2

Oof, this one. Before starting, the bookmark already had a big paint blob on it. I didn't want to waste paper though, so went ahead anyway. Other than the part on the border, most would get painted over.

Everything went pretty well, until it was time for paint splatters. I figured I didn't need to cover the top since I was just splattering on the bottom. Boy was I wrong. And then I dropped my brush right on the grass. I was able to fix the grass smudge, but not the sky splatters. 

Once again, straight lines were my nemesis. The house ended up small and the fence huge. If I can find a way to keep my lines straight, I'd really like to try this painting again. It's a lovely landscape.

 

Day 25: Monochrome

 

Day 26: Winter Landscape

 

Day 27: Roses

 

Day 28: Snow Mountains

I really enjoyed the abstract effects on the mountain. Mine came out kind o swirly, and I'm digging the vibe.

 

Day 29: Bold Evening Sky

You warned us to be careful not to make the sky muddy. I made the top of my sky so muddy. Tried to fix it and was successful to a degree. But I've been finishing out the projects on my sketchpad, which can only handle so much water before it begins disintegrating. This is such a beautiful painting. After this class ends, I want to try so many of these projects again on great paper. I feel like I've learned a ton!

 

Day 30: Glowing City

This was a fun project to end on. I'm trying to finish out my small sketchbook before making a new one with actual watercolor paper, so I had the same paper-related struggles as the last couple projects. I feel like I'm getting better at working around those issues though.

 

Supplies used, so far:

• Paints
  • W&N 10-color Designers Gouache Introductory Set
    • Warm primaries: Ultramarine, Spectrum Red, Permanent Yellow Deep
    • Cool primaries: Primary Blue, Primary Red, Primary Yellow
    • Convenience: Yellow Ochre, Permanent Green Medium
    • Zinc White & Ivory Black
  • WN Permanent/Titanium White Gouache
  • Daler Rowney Gold Aquafine Gouache - well, by mistake
  • W&N watercolors: Indigo and Cobalt Turquoise Light
  • Some other white gouaches 
• Airtight palette box by Joybest
• Paper
  • 200 GSM Paul Rubens Premium White watercolor paper (1-4, 13-14, 19-20)
  • Richeson Bulk Printmaking Paper, 88lb (5, 15-18, 25-30)
    • This is part of a little notepad my husband made me. It's really light (and not even their watercolor brand). It takes the gouache beautifully!
  • A small Archer & Olive 160gsm dot grid paper (6, 11-12)
  • Bookmarks made from Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper Blocks, 300gsm, 100% cotton (7-10, 21-24)