I finished the starfish painting last night!

The medium is gouache and the size is about 5 x 7 inches. It is the first in a set of four called “A Day at the Beach.”

I don’t know why, but each time I begin a gouache painting I feel as though I have to learn a few basic lessons all over again. I have to remind myself to start with a base color, move on to the darks, and then add the highlights last. For some reason, I always want to jump to the highlights and end up muddying the whole image and needing to sponge a lot of paint off. (More good reasons to buy thick, expensive paper.) 

I’m trying to finish all four paintings in the set in time for a small local art show at the end of April, so I’m hoping that I can figure out how to streamline my method. This one little painting took me 8 or 9 hours, and I don’t have enough spare time to finish the others at rate I’m going!

The colors that I’m seeing on my monitor are just not the same as those in the painting, so I hope that many of you get to see this in person — I’ll be sure to announce details of the show (Thee Spring Gala at Asher + Matt’s house) when I get them.

I thought about adding some paragraphs here about effort and pricing, but since it’s Friday and I’m still mulling over my last post I think I’m going to wait. It sure is nice to write about things I really care about instead of just fluffy little posts about last night’s sewing. Not that there’s anything wrong with those at all, but I think Jupiterbuttons has been wanting a little more content for a while. So thanks for showing up and putting up with all my thoughts about art and Etsy.

Have a good weekend, and don’t forget that you have until Sunday night to leave a comment on the last post and get into the drawing!