Above: A sketch of a Rosebreasted Grosbeak study skin at the Bell Museum of Natural History. Staedtler Pigment Liner and light washes of gouache in a handmade journal with Magnani Annigoni Designo for pages. (Note: my written note at the bottom was done so quickly that I left out an essential word that might confuse you—"because he could always get more details than in black," meaning with a blue background he could always add more details over the blue, with different blues. The rest of the comment explains that, but it might confuse you and I want to avoid that!)
The first Thursday of the month is Bell Museum Sketch Night. The event started earlier this year (in September) but I wasn't able to attend that evening. I couldn't miss the opportunity to see artist Don Colley at the Bell on October 4, however.
I arrived a little early and finished up this sketch. My white paint in my travel palette was contaminated so I didn't paint on the cottonball in the eye or the breast and tail feathers. The feet were a little tortured in my sketch—by the time I reached them in my drawing Don had been introduced and I wanted to go and watch him draw.
Which I did. Never miss a chance to see Don Colley draw!
Beautiful and sensitive work. This piece really shows how this gouache is so different from other brands. Don was here on Tuesday and I got the chance to spend the day with him as he spoke to my students. He is truly a master.
Ellen, your students are so fortunate to get to see Don work! I’m glad you were able to have a visit from him. And yep Schmincke gouache is great!
Great example of having a “light” touch. I like the feel of this very much because it shows some discipline and understanding of the use of gouache. Frank
Thanks Frank, but you give me too much credit in that comment. What I was really doing was simply enjoying how the gouache floats on the Annigoni paper! I’m pretty goofy when it comes to such things. But thank you.
I agree with you Roz, never miss a chance to see Don Colley draw. He is awesome, and inspiring and just plain fun. Don and the Bell, you must have been in nirvana!
Margo, it was very fun to see Don Colley work—and his is really just plain fun besides being so very talented. He was also at Wet Paint on Friday Night and at the comics convention all day on Saturday—sadly a teaching commitment kept me from attending those events. I think there should be a Don Colley TV channel so we can watch him draw whenever we want!