Blue Moon Blog

A short while back, the Blue Moon Crew set up a still life for each member the family to paint, with the intention of decorating our kitchen/dining area. We chose fruit for the subjects, to be painted on a set of 10 x 10 pre-stretched canvases. Each of us picked what we wanted to paint and made our own arrangements. Mary and Laura were working in oils, Emily and I with gouache. None of us completely finished, but it was a rewarding afternoon.

The session was fun, especially because we were all four in one room together, painting away. That sense of activity and shared goals is exciting in a studio, each working at their own piece, but checking out each other’s progress. It reminded me of life drawing classes, except at home, and with my kids! It also offered Mary and I teaching opportunities, which may not have come our way at all or as naturally in other situations. We were on hand while working to answer questions about composition, contrast, color, lighting, and more.

I hadn’t done any painting in years, having had some experience with acrylics, watercolors and oils. It turned out many of my acrylics were dry, so I just used the gouache I had on hand. I’ve always liked using gouache as it can be used to achieve both transparent and opaque effects, but I found it a little dicey handling it on canvas. Next time, I’d either use gouache on illustration board, or try oils or acrylics if I stuck with canvas.

I sure enjoyed the day, and thought I got a good start. I wouldn’t mind finishing off this one, but we’ll see. If not, I’m looking forward to the next time we’ll all jump into the paint again and start fresh.