Mental Break - Gouache Painting

I’ve been so busy with my book illustrations that I haven’t had a chance to paint in a few weeks. I always like to keep my painting skills fresh, even when I'm doing a big project in pen and ink. When I work in color, I usually paint in transparent watercolors. Gouache is an opaque watermedia, which handles like watercolor, but builds differently. Up until now, I've really only used gouache as a way to highlight watercolors. But I have also been interested in trying gouache as a solo medium. I bought myself a small set of Schmincke Horadam gouache paint and decided to do a little painting exercise to try them out.

My gouache test was to make a copy of a detail from Giambattista Tiepolo’s (1696 –1770)  “Rachel Hiding the Idols from her Father Laban.”

My "Rachel" ended up looking quite a bit less agreeable than the Tiepolo's original. Oops! Poor drawing on my part. But I liked her nonetheless and decided to go with the fiercer and, to my eyes, more modern version. That said, here is the original followed by my copy.

 

Giambattista Tiepolo - “Rachel Hiding the Idols from her Father Laban.”

"If You Think I'm Giving You the Idols, Father Laban,
Think Again." Copyright, Sara Light-Waller, 2013
7"x 9" gouache on canvas board.

I could say more about the process of making this painting, but I think I'll wait on that and make a little video about it instead. See you soon!

Book Update – Fanfare Please

Well, it’s a wrap! The illustrations for Book I are now completed. I am DYING to show them off but, of course, must wait a little while longer to get the book finally wrapped and finished. Word on the street is that one of my beta readers is now done with the manuscript. I’m looking forward to hearing what she has to say about it (well, nervous really.) Art-wise, it’s on to the cover for me now. I already have an idea, but I’m not sure I want to do go that way. My design is pretty old-fashioned. Do I have the courage to do it…? Not sure yet. But I’ll continue to think on it as my final editorial suggestions come in. Then…it’s into print (or electronic book) for it! Oh, I am SO excited! Hurray!

In the meantime, I have a placeholder page up on my book website. It's not much yet...there will be much more to come.