Art Is...Tests and Playing

So I've been a little preoccupied with personal stuff the last couple of weeks but I want to try and keep working as much as possible. So my postings may be a little erratic but we will press on...

The back story: a couple of decades ago a group of young, exuberant and devilishly good looking students entered their first color theory class. Our teacher was...sadistic. Is that the word I'm looking for? Is there a HARSHER word for it? Anyways, the color theory class was the usual with the making of color charts (white to black, blue to red, etc.). That was not what was horrible. The horrible-ness came when we discovered what we would be doing it in...gouache.

Gouache is basically opaque watercolor. In my research I have also learned that gouache is used in illustration and graphic design a lot. What we all learned 20 years ago is that gouache does NOT dry the same color as the color you mixed. As I recall it would sometimes dry darker, sometimes lighter. But always such that you had to COMPLETELY re-do the color chart you were working on. Therefore leading us to hate this expensive little paint (and me not touching the stuff for a VERY long time).

But in my present day form I have been giving things a chance again. I picked up regular watercolors again and they seem to work okay. Heck, I'm going to try sushi again on Tuesday after many many years and one horrible incident in Washington D.C. So I thought I would give gouache another shot. But I needed a test subject...

Here is a submission for Prehistoric Times I did last year.



And here is the same work after I've "enhanced" it with gouache...



So basically that has been my week. Playing and testing out a new way of painting. We will see.