Geranium Gouache Sketch
Today I’m testing my homemade paint box before I take it out on location. I set it up on the back porch on top of my small Sony tripod. I’m painting with Holbein Acryla Gouache on a 6×6 inch canvas panel.
It’s a bright sunny day as you can see in the photo.
Geranium Photo
I painted it as I saw it with the background a dark green and not black like in the photo. I tried something new. I sketched the scene first using a Kuretake #8 brush pen with Platinum Carbon Black ink. This worked surprisingly well. The ink dried immediately and I was able to paint over it right away. The black ink showed through the first layer of thin paint so I could see the drawing well into the painting process.
The setup worked fine, but it was a hot day and the gouache dried quickly both on the palette and on the canvas. This was good because I could glaze over dry paint without waiting, but it was bad because my brush was dragging on the too dry paint and did not mix well on the canvas. I had to mix on the palette and quickly apply a few strokes to the canvas and then mix more paint.
Geranium Setup
This little paint box works well. As it is I can carry either 6×6 or 6×8 inch panels in the lid. I’m working on a wet canvas carrier that will let me bring panels up to 9×12 inches to paint on location.
