Monday, June 11, 2012

ORIENTAL PARASOL PAINTING

ORIENTAL PARASOL PAINTING

Hi everyone,
First, I want to express my appreciation to the folks I met at the Phoenix Comic Con in May.  The diversity of people who came up to my booth was astonishing..and unusual.   Aside from a few patrons who wanted to know if I taught private lessons (check the website for my upcoming painting workshops), I was particularly enthralled by the two professional athletes from the Phoenix Suns basketball team, who happened to spy my Space Ghost cover for Back Issue magazine on display.  Highly intelligent and just plain high up, we talked art, philosophy, and discussed the old-fashioned virtues of Jonny Quest cartoons for a good hour. It would seem that everyone who is a fan of the Dude's has the strength and intelligence of ten Grinches. 
Yesterday was spent painting at the art school's Open Studio class with the live model. For this painting, I thought I'd try using--watercolor.  Yes, watercolor.   As everyone knows, watercolor has two particular qualities that we should all know about: 
1.  It's one of the hardest mediums to master.
2.  Every kid in grade school has painted with it.
Hmmm. 
Anyway, the painting turned out well that day, but with me and my math-impaired brain behind the brush, pulling off the entire thing in transparent watercolor seems all but impossible.  So out comes the white gouache and when I mix it with the watercolor, I can use it to then go over my screw-ups and correct my mistakes.  Ten points to the eagle-eye out there who can spot the areas where I've applied the gouache. 
Gouache is an interesting medium, and an even more interesting word.  When pronounced, it resembles the sound of a nation of conveslesants standing over the toilet during flu season.  Most people can't even spell it, let alone paint with it.  I somehow managed to memorize this word back in art school by realizing it contains the word "ache".  I'm sure there's a correlation.
And don't forget to sign up for the Dude's very first instructional masterclass: "30 years in 4 days" The Steve Rude Painting Workshop in September.  The cry of the loons at night are worth the price alone!
Talking in high volume,
Steve Rude the Dude