24 January 2012

Sunset - gouache painting

Sunset by Marion Hedger
Gouache over an orange ground
20x15cm on canvas board
A landscape this time, completed a couple of days ago. I'm trying to bring together the golden nuggets as taught by Johannes Vloothuis in his webinar lessons. If you want to find out more about these webinars see Improve my Paintings



23 January 2012

Hippy Amarylis Gouache painting

Here is another small one I painted for the Gouache Corner thread of wetcanvas.
Hippy Amarylis painting by Marion Hedger
Gouache on mountboard, coated with gesso mixed with grout to give a slight textured surface and then given a reddy/pink ground.
15x15 cm (6"x6")

I used several layers on this to get the correct colour combinations. I did not want to get too thick to soon. 
This is my first flower in gouache - well second really but the first one which was a red rose was a disaster and got washed off. That's one of the good things about gouache, it is easy to reclaim the support.
I am not sure the gouache is the correct medium for florals as it is difficult to blend as it is more suited to an impasto approach. That said though, I have seen some lovely gouache florals done using a more watercolour technique.
I am trying some roses next, to see how I go.



10 January 2012

Green Paraqueet Bathing Gouache painting

Bathing Paraqueet by Marion Hedger
13x18 cm (5"x7")
Gouache on canvas panel

Painted as part of the January 'Gouache Corner' challenge on wetcanvas.com. Unfortunately, in the photo, the weave of the canvas is very pronounced, it is not quite so obvious in real life. This is my second bird painting and I love the subject. It reminds me of the red Eastern Rosellas we used to get in our garden in Melbourne, Australia. Unfortunately I never took a photo, so have no reminders of them. I cropped this from the original photo which contains 3 green paraqueets all taking a bath. Maybe I shall attempt all three later. This will be varnished to protect the surface and allow it to be framed without glass.

09 January 2012

Scarlet Honey Eater Gouache Painting

  Scarlet Honey Eater by Marion Hedger
Gouache on canvas board
Varnished with acrylic varnish
13 x 18 cm (5"x7")
This was painted as part of the December Gouache Challenge on wetcanvas.com.
It is my first bird painting and I am not sure that gouache is the right medium for birds for me. I have a tendency to keep wanting to do lots of detail, although planning to paint loosely. I need to practice more to understand how the gouache handles for this type of work.