I really had to laugh!

This month, I’ve been preparing to submit two artworks into the Alfred Cove Arts Society’s 2024 Awards of Excellence. For this I decided to focus on Koi. I have always been fascinated with the confidence and daring of this fish, the way they are so interactive and will practically climb out of the water if they want something, not to mention the infinite colour variations and patterns. Koi are also symbols of luck, prosperity, and perseverance! What’s not to love?

So, I’m busily painting watercolour koi, with a focus on showing movement, and I was really proud of the two I created. The first, you can see in my previous video (click here to watch: https://https://youtu.be/--sOPHMPsZw), is a landscape, and the second in this video, is a portrait style plunge. I took them proudly to my dad, my framer, and he said, “What if you want to hang them side by side? Shouldn’t they both be landscape?”….

So you can see I had to laugh, because of course, he was right! Turns out I needed the perseverance symbolized by the koi! So, even though I’m now painting a new watercolour for the Awards, I’m posting my video of The Plunge, because after all, I’m still really proud of it.

So, watch this space for video number 3 and I hope you’ll enjoy watching my second koi watercolour painting coming to life.

Monique x

P.S If you like this watercolour and would like a print of it, click here: https://https://www.chasingthejoyartwork.com/shop/p/watercolourkoitheplunge

Colours by Daniel Smith and Jane Davenport

250gsm Watercolour Canvas

3/4" Oval Wash Princeton Neptune

No 8 medium liner brush

Music – On The Double by Rob Barbato

Awards of Excellence 3rd-12th of May, 2024 at Atwell House https://acas.wildapricot.org/Events

https://chasingthejoyartwork.com

To gouache, or not to gouache? That is the question.

My personal style is watercolour and I particularly love the juxtaposition of bright luminous colours with deep dark blue hues. However, I often find it difficult to make the watercolour bright enough, or, dark enough for my taste. So I thought I'd give gouache a go. Though I love the delicate transparency of watercolour glazes, sometimes you just want to make a bright splash, and for that, you need gouache!

I’ve put together a simple painting project video here to show you both my process and the Himi gouache, a great set to begin with.

To start, I always spray my paints to “wake them up”, then use a wet brush to pick up the colour. I’ve also made myself a colour swatch card on 300gsm paper, because a dry colour block can look very different from the colour they’ll be in your artwork; and also because I wanted to see how gouache would react with salt and splashes of water.

If you love bold bright colours like I do, then gouache is definitely something to consider!

Happy joy chasing.

Monique x

To read the full blog post visit chasingthejoyartwork.com

In this project I used:

0.3 2B mechanical pencil

Himi gouache 24 colour palette

300gsm watercolour paper

Prismacolor pencils

Music:

Back To Normal by Judson Crane

I felt really worried about painting on canvas for the first time. It's so much bigger than I'm used to working on and, unlike paper, unforgiving of any errors (happy accidents). I was so nervous I drafted not once but three times, testing out brushstrokes, colours and composition because I knew there would be little room for error once I started.

Then it was time, and I knew I could not procrastinate anymore. I just needed 30 seconds of mad courage to put paint on paper. Time to take the plunge!

... and you know what? It was totally freeing! It turns out I love working on big canvas, and, it had an unexpected knock-on effect.

This year my parents have been trying to convince me to enter the Alfred Cove Art Society Awards of Excellence held in May, which requires that I submit two original artworks for sale. I don't usually sell any of my originals, but that's about to change!

Using canvas has allowed me to create something different that I’m really proud of and I’m thrilled to say, will be entering into the awards for sale. This piece will be one of them! Oh, how much I'd have missed out on, if I had given in to my fear of the unknown.

Watch me be brave!

Monique x

Colours by Daniel Smith and Jane Davenport

250gsm Watercolour Canvas

3/4" Oval Wash Princeton Neptune

No 8 medium liner brush

Music - Jam for the Empress by Mark Mothersbaugh

Awards of Excellence 3rd-12th of May, 2024 at Atwell House https://acas.wildapricot.org/Events

Chasingthejoyartwork.com

When mice join the party…! This week’s painting masterpiece with a little furry twist 😊 #cheesy

If you liked this video please consider liking and subscribing to my channel. Or, go to https://chasingthejoyartwork.com and get this little mouse as an A4 print.

As a self published author and illustrator, your support is greatly appreciated! Thank you for watching.

As an artist, you really only need 8 colours for a full range of colour. If you’re happy to mix on the go, and I’m always full of admiration for those artists I see painting on location with the tiniest of palettes, then 8 would be enough (some might argue, excessive). Unfortunately, my use of colour leans towards abundance and so my very ‘limited’ palette has 39 colours.

This video shows all of my 39 colour choices for my holiday artwork this January. For a full list of the colours and/or to read more about how to select the 8 must-have colours mentioned above, go to chasingthejoyartwork.com

www.chasingthejoyartwork.com/blog/libra-brain-choosing-a-holiday-colour-palette

Watch the artist paint a watercolour mouse - Blossom

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