Finished…

Gouache and colored pencil on toned paper

Thanks to the inimitable Charlotte Ricker teaching a wonderful class on mixed media at SBAI, which focused on cactus and succulents as subjects, I got to really dig in and spend time with these fabulous little creatures so full of personality. In this case, I started with a layer of gouache in almost all of this piece, one leaf at a time (sort of like with watercolor, to retain each leaf’s definition). But mostly this was just establishing their local color. I came back in with colored pencil on top to create the soft dusty finish, the patches of where that has been knocked away, and the deepest shading. The brightest whites of the flowers and the reflective edges of the leaves are in gouache again on top. I love how the two mediums play together in this way!

Another big realization for me was that I like permanent white a lot better than titanium white! It seems much more opaque and also warmer—titanium usually looks way too blue and unnatural.