Mask

I love masks. This one I painted with acrylic inks on mixed media paper. I had no specific reference for it, I just loved the combination of redand brown colours and the light green serving as focus point.

Village in the Haute Provence

In the 1980s we spent a three weeks holiday in the Provence in the South of France. At that time diapositives were the state of art - and so this photo was taken as a dia. Now that I am retired I have the time to go through the stacks of diapositives and to select the ones which I want to have digitalized. I chose this one because I like the contrast between the light and the shadows and I like the architecture of the village houses.

Cute Houses

Here I used an old line drawing which I had done with Inkscape a really long time ago. I coloured that drawing many times - with acrylic inks, with markers - and now with gouache paints. I painted on mixed media paper which tends a bit to buckle when you add too much water. So I taped it down with a normal painter's tape, and when the paper was dry I didn't peel the tape off but simply cut the tape off together with the paper. 

I used the following brands: Lucas Studio Tempera/Gouache, Reeves Gouache and Schmincke Akademie Gouache. The interesting thing is that I am quite surprised how manageable the Lucas Studio Gouache is, whereas I had two disappointing experiences with the Ultramarine paint from Reeves and the Schmincke Akademie Indigo paint. When I opened them a big blub of water came out, with some coloured binder. Obviously the binder had separated in the tube. I kind of expected something like that from Reeves, but not from Schmincke. However the second Gouache paint from Schmincke Akademie, the Violet blue, worked fine.

Where is the snowflake?

Just now I am challenging myself with using snowflake line drawings and transforming them in such a way that you have difficulties recognizing the snowflake shapes. My palette here is quite limited - in fact I am using up the paints left on my palette from the last painting. 

I find that kind of painting very relaxing and zen-like. After having thought about the hues to use I am slowly colouring in, trying to stay inside the lines and to work as precise as possible. I know that other people do a proper colour chart planning before they begin to paint - I do not do that (yet).