Gouache studies 2

Had a frustrating day in the studio today, trying to paint a bunch of carrots. Nothing to show for several hours work, but hopefully learned something! Will be back at it tomorrow.

Took a 1-day gouache workshop on Monday with Rochester artist Valerie Larsen. To prepare, I broke out my gouache pack and did some painting in the car Friday and Saturday. These are all 4x6 studies on matboard. I'm still trying to figure out which medium I like best for "quick studies" in the car when the weather doesn't allow outdoor painting. I've also got some casein paint (don't like the smell, though) and there's always watercolor.

Anyway, out of these I like the first two...think I successfully captured the essence of the scenes. The first was just before sunset on Friday when some beautiful cloud formations appeared in the western sky. The other two were from Saturday...top one mid-afternoon (roughly 2-3 pm), the bottom one from around noon. Not happy with that one, a very busy scene that I got lost in but some of the light effects aren't bad.