I thought it would take me forever to finish my first painting sketchbook. Well, it didn’t take me forever, but it did take a little more than a year. I started this one January of last year and just finished it tonight.
This sketchbook was devoted to gouache, and it chronicles my journey of never having used it to feeling a bit more comfortable with this forgiving medium. I love the vibrancy of the colors and the ease of set up and clean up. I’m still using my Himi gouache set with 24 colors. It’s a nice set for beginners like me, but I definitely would like to try some higher quality sets, maybe M. Graham or professional Windsor & Newton paints. The biggest trouble I have with my current set is that some of the lighter colors like the white and the lighter greens and yellows are quite transparent, even when I use them with very little water, which makes adding highlights and pops of bright colors hard to achieve. And of course, my painting journey has taught me that I do not need 24 colors. My ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, cadmium red, and white have all been well used, with many of the other colors (pepto pink, for example) remaining untouched.
I’m now ready to crack open my next gouache sketchbook. I do have a watercolor sketchbook languishing somewhere. And if anyone knows of any or if it is even possible, I would love to have an oil painting sketchbook. I realize it would be challenging to create one given how long oil paints take to dry. It’s one of the things holding me back from painting with oil paints more.
Here’s to more new beginnings!
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