Earlier this year, I decided to take up a 100-day project inspired by Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The idea was to commit to doing something everyday for 100 days straight. I committed to 100 days of sketchbooking. My goal was to get more consistent with my art practice, develop my style, and improve my skills. And guess what? It did just that.
If you are an artist or creator or an aspiring one, then I highly recommend you try this.
Materials
In this video, you’ll see me paint 2 of the 3 plants I had sketched out in this sketchbook spread: a variegated rubber plant and a ficus leaf fig. I had already completed painting a pink aglaonema over a background wash. I used a Princeton Heritage brush in size 4. I have used a beautiful ceramic palette that is perfect for mixing colours for small projects like this one.
Process
As you watch me paint in this video, you’ll be able to observe how I go about mixing different greens to get the right shades. You’ll also be able to see how I block out colours in the background and word forwards and finish with the final details. Taking up projects like this will really help you get familiar with colours and colour mixing as you’ll be working with very few colours that you’ll have to mix to get the right shade.
For you
If you are someone who finds it challenging to achieve the right shades or if you’re just fascinated by colours and mixing, then I have an online course that will definitely help you. In this course, I cover everything from basics of colour like understanding warm and cool tones to understanding colour schemes to mixing colours to achieve just about any shade that you want.
Did this inspire you to start creating? I hope to share more such sketchbook projects to inspire you to give painting and painting with gouache a go!