Reflections on Skill Improvement through Two Gouache Paintings
Have you ever tried to paint or sketch something that was hard (for you) but later found the same thing easy?
Putting off Challenging Pieces
About 6 months ago, I started a couple of paintings that I knew would be challenging given my then skill level. One was a painting of Hallet Cove in South Australia, another a section of forest (focusing on a beautiful tree with gorgeous intricately tangled roots) on Christmas Island.
I knew I wanted to use gouache in some way for these, but how, I wasn’t sure. I started anyway, and put down a base layer of watercolour. Then I blocked out some shapes and colours. Then, I left them. For 6 months.
Part of the ‘leaving them’ was because we were on the road again, and I had plenty of new things to sketch and paint, but part of it was just putting off these paintings because they were difficult.
Finding them Easy Months Later
I’d always meant to come back to them, but they sat in my unfinished book until a couple of weeks ago, when I finally decided it was time to tackle them again.
The thing I found odd and surprising was how much easier they both seemed now. I got them both completed in a short time, over a couple of days and the feeling at the end was incredulity. “Huh! That was easy.” I thought. “What was stopping me from doing that before?”
And I realised it was three things:
Fear of messing these pieces up that I’d grown quite fond of
Similarly, a fear that they wouldn’t turn out as good as I’d imagined the results in my head and
The above were there because I knew my skill or at least my confidence in my skill was not yet equal to the task
So what had changed?
Taking a Class
Well, for starters, I had taken the Domestika course by Ruth Wilshaw, which gave me a few extra gouache skills particularly with landscapes, and a lot of confidence.
Practice, Practice and More Practice
But it wasn’t the course itself. It was that through the course and since the course, I’ve been using gouache a lot more in general but in particular for landscapes. I’ve practiced with gouache a lot more, and I’ve layered with gouache a lot more. I’ve also done a few more landscapes than I’d done at the point when I started these.
All of these things made me not only more familiar with my medium, but also so much more confident in using it and in my own ability to solve any problems that arose.
It wasn’t until I had really put in the extra time with gouache and done a few other pieces that I was confident enough to tackle these two that had been sitting unfinished.
I’ve found myself looking at a few other gouache pieces (florals) and wondering what I’d do differently now.
It is funny how I’d actually already used some of the techniques I learnt for gouache on an indoor mural I’d done on Christmas Island for EcoCrab Industries, but I guess my brain hadn’t connected that to this medium.
Going forward
The thing about trying different mediums for me is that sometimes, the benefits and things I’ve learnt translate so well to another or show me a different way of approaching another medium, and other times, it really takes being handheld to realise the thing I’d already learnt elsewhere could be applied here.
Along my journey, there have been times when I’ve been loathe to try different mediums, or wanted to just find one that stuck. The idea being that really committing to one = mastery.
And that approach has been very helpful in actually learning how to work with watercolour and giving each medium a good amount of time really helps solidify the skills in that medium. But after a point, I find forcing myself to think differently helps. It is a bit of a balancing act.
Right now, I’d love to experiment with a couple of different things to challenge my fine motor skills, lateral thinking and creativity. I am seeing the benefits of doing so in whatever it is that I am currently interested in sketching and painting. New mediums = forcing the brain to solve problems in different ways.
Has there been something you found really challenging, but were later surprised to find it easier than you remembered?