This week I painted a Rufous-tailed Jacamar, a bird I have never heard of before. It resides in wooded tropics, usually near clearings and creeks as it feeds on butterflies, dragonflies, and wasps with its long bill. They make a lovely shriek, and I really appreciate the bird call portion of many birding websites.
For the medium I chose holbein acrylic gouache. I did a big project with gouache in the summer with different subject matter, and I found this a bit more challenging working smaller and with something involving less foliage. I am feeling a bit burnt out in general with getting work done, and I think if I try something totally new next week I might have more success. The acrylic gouache is fun to collect, as it comes in many colours. I’d love to use a wet palette as I find the paint dries very quickly and I end up wasting a lot which is unfortunate. I also have had a bottle of medium to mix with it as the colours are so vivid and it stretches the paint further (nice as it is pretty expensive given the size of the tubes). Ideally, I enjoy using watercolour first and then overlaying the gouache afterwards as I find it a bit more vibrant and opaque. This isn’t something necessarily found in a classroom but I think it compares pretty closely to acrylic in general which is pretty standard.
I am bringing this to a party I am attending at my friend Kai’s house on Friday as he is a gracious host and we are all able to get up to some antics over there. We have traded some art over the years and I am thankful he is in my life. I may add a funny little text bubble on the front as well.
