Back to alcoholbased Markers

It is not that I don't like painting with Gouache anymore. From time to time I have to switch to another medium, sometimes because I watched an inspiring video dealing with that medium, sometimes because I am looking at the shelf in my studio noticing the number of markers I've got. 

I love to do abstract pieces with my markers. I notice, however, that it takes me much longer to finish a piece. I often look at the work in progress when I am sitting at my breakfast table, thinking about which colors to use next.
 

Another Gouache painting

As this post goes online we have the 22 June, and the longest day of the year will be behind us. Looking back to my art activities 2024 I have to say that I managed to keep up with creating images with AI Art Generators and painting images in an analogue way with brush and tube paint. I create far more images with AI Art Generators, but nevertheless I am proud to say that I am still having a blast doing art the traditional way. 

For me AIart and traditional art exist along each other. 

The painting on the left was done with Gouache, and it probably is the last one of a series of Gouache paintings for the time being. I changed over to another medium as you will see in one of the next blogposts.

It's Soccer time!

It's European Football/Soccer Championship in Germany. People are watching the games outside, friends meet and have fun together. 

AI makes it possible to imagine animals playing soccer - so I though why not have fun with a soccer playing frog? Or a soccer playing penguin?

As you can see the froggie is really having a blast with the ball, whereas the penguin seems to be in a bit of pensive mood.

He seems to think about what to do with the ball - to which of his team players should he pass it on? Should he stop it or let it roll?

Or is the little guy playing soccer for the first time? 

Looking at these images makes me think of little stories. Most of them will not be told, but maybe some day they will. 

Why Gouache is the best medium

I discovered Cecile Yadro's YouTube channel a few days ago. She has a lot of helpful videos about painting with Gouache on her channel, but also does art with other mediums. The video below is one I have been watching a few times...

Gouache abstract Painting

This gouache painting was done with

• magenta (Rico Design Gouache)
• white (Lucas studio Gouache)
• midnight blue (Colorex liquid watercolor)
• violet (Lucas studio Gouache)

I had bought the Magenta Rico Design Gouache a few days ago and now wanted to try it out. I must say that I am a bit disappointed with the consistency of it. I had to apply more than one layer in order to get it opaque. However, I will continue using them - maybe adding a tiny bit of white to render them more opaque.

On the other hand I was quiet pleased with the Violet Lucas Studio Gouache (I had bought it at a time when it was still called Nerchau Gouache and belonged to the low price gouache brands). I could apply it very nicely on the watercolor paper,

One short additional note: I think I managed for the first time not to consider the painting finished too early. I had the image lying on my table for one day, then I took a look at it and added the finishing touches. This is something I want to keep up doing with the next paintings.

Butterflies - various styles

Mage Space makes it easy to try out different styles with the same prompt.

The image on the left was created using the simple prompt: "Colorful butterfly" and the prompt filter: "cubism".

The second butterfly image was created with the same prompt and the promptfilter "Chicano Art".

These are only two samples out of a series of four images with different prompt filters. I am far from knowing what each and everyone of Mage Space's prompt filters means - I am slowly working through them!

Just a little bit of cuteness

 Well, it definitely is not funny when whole regions in the South West of Germany are being flooded, people are getting hurt or even killed and whole houses are demolished. And all that happened over the last weekend, with rain coming down furiously.

However, sometimes we need something that gets a smile on our faces. And here it is - a bird wearing a raincoat, sitting on a branch in the middle of a heavy downpour. 

The image was created with Bing Image Creator.

Coloring with Gouache and Colored pencils

Quite some time ago I did some line drawings of masks. Later on I colored them with alcoholbased markers, but kept the drawings.

Coloring line drawings is a way of getting familiar with your paints; so I decided to color this mask with Gouache paints. Then I applied colored pencils. I noticed that the pencils are doing quite well on the surface created by the gouache paints.