Oh My Gouache! Part II

I really didn't need any additional evidence that artist James Gurney is not only a great artist but that he is also a very generous teacher as well. His daily web blog Gurney's Journey had been running since 2007 and is filled with valuable FREE information on practically every subject any artist would be curious about.

When I tweeted 

"Oh MY Gouache! What colours should I use for 

@GurneyJourney's #graveyardpaintingchallenge?1?

James Gurney responded

James Gurney's twitter (@GurneyJourney) response Oct. 9, 2015

Before heading to Wallack's, I decided on my palette for the "Gurney Journey Graveyard Challenge": M.Graham's (MG) Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna and Winsor & Newton Spectrum Yellow.

Mu Gouache box with M. Graham ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

While I was at Wallack's, I found out that they were discontinuing and discounting their Winsor and Newtons (WN) lines of products, so, I left the store with eight tubes (instead of the three I had gone in for!) I purchased:

• Spectrum Yellow (WN)
• Primary Yellow (WN)
• Orange Lake Light (WN)
• Primary Red (WN)
• Primary Blue (WN)
• Ultramarine Blue (MG)
• Winsor Violet (Dioxozine) (WN)
• Burnt Sienna (MG)

Colour tests of my new gouache colours
(spectrum yellow and primary yellow identical from what I could see?)

I was disappointed at how close WN Spectrum yellow and primary yellow were (see above). At home, with further research, I learned that they were slightly different. Spectrum yellow is PY74 while primary yellow is PY138 and PY74.

I decided to research the WN CMYK blue and yellow and the primary red and I found a great leaflet on their website :( http://www.winsornewton.com/assets/Leaflets/win_10724_dg_a4_pdf_english.pdf )

Excerpt from Winsor & Newton Leaflet
http://www.winsornewton.com/assets/Leaflets/win_10724_dg_a4_pdf_english.pdf

My "Oh My Gouache"art journal page 

I returned to my original "Oh My Goauche"art journal page to play with my new colours. I started by making a Gurney-style (isosceles triangle) colour chart for my ultramarine blue (UB), burnt sienna (BS), spectrum yellow (SY) and white (WH) palette.

My colour chart for UB, BS, and SY with WH

James Gurney's limited palette colour charts for other colours
Read more on his website here:
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/2015/09/limited-palette-tests.html

And then I wanted to play with that CMKY primary palette.

The three primary tunes - Blue, yellow and red.

I thought it would be fun to use the picture below that I took (of a house at the corner of Metcalfe and Somerset St. West) to play with the CMKY primary colours 

Metcalfe and Somerset 

Quick practice in my art journal with new CMKY gouache palette
(plus white)

Having just begun my gouache adventure, I can't wait to get outside and use them there (before the weather gets too cold)!

Here is another interesting excerpt from the Winsor & Newton leaflet on the history of gouache:

Ottawa Street Gourmet

I am so happy when folks like my sketches. 

I was waiting at the corner of O'Connor & Albert to meet my nephew for lunch and it was one of the hottest days of the summer. I started waching the folks on the Ottawa Street Gourmet food truck serving food and I couldn't imagine how incredibly hot they must have been inside the truck as I watched drenched in sweat from a shaded place on the sidewalk.

They were so cheerful and happy despite the oppressive heat. I was truly impressed!

I was ten minutes early for my lunch meeting with my nephew so I pulled out my sketch book and did a quick ten minute sketch and tweeted it later to their twitter (@streatottawa) later.

Well, they liked the sketch and asked if they could use it. Of course I said yes! I am truly honoured.

Here it is as a banner on their twitter page:

Twitter Page of Ottawa Street Gourmet

There is a heat advisory in effect for Ottawa on Monday August 17 and I was thinking about these great folks out there in the oppressive heat again! I have been advised that unfortunately the truck is in the shop for repairs but fortunately that means that they will be staying cool on Monday!

Then they'll back on Tuesday at the corner of Albert and O'Connor Monday to Friday from 11:30 until 2:00. Their food is locally sourced & inspired and the menu changes daily. Check out their website: StreetOttawa

Check out the weekly menu on their Facebook page

Where are you eating lunch today? Head over to Albert and O'Connor and tell them Cindi sent you.

Let's Do Some Summer Urban Sketching

There is a world wide community devoted to urban sketching . You can find urban sketchers on flickr and facebook and Twitter.

There are world wide sketchcrawl days and even an urban sketchers manifesto!

Urban Sketchers (USk) History

From the website:

"Urban Sketchers is the brainchild of Spanish-born illustrator and journalist Gabriel Campanario, a staff artist and blogger at The Seattle Times. After seeing an increasing number of people sharing their location drawings in the blogosphere, Campanario started a flickr group in November 2007 as a showcase of urban sketches. A year later, he decided to expand the flickr initiative with a by-invitation group blog where correspondents would commit to posting on a regular basis and also sharing the stories behind the sketches."

Gabriel Campanario,
the founder of Urban Sketchers and
author of The Art of Urban Sketching,

"In a short period of time, the Urban Sketchers blog and sister flickr group have become popular online outlets for people to share their location drawings. Thousands visit daily for inspiration or to travel vicariously through the visual dispatches from hundreds of contributors on six continents."

Nina Johansson is USK correspondent
and lives and works in Stockholm .

"Drawing a city isn't just capturing it on paper, it's really about getting to know it, to feel it, to make it your own," says Nina Johansson, a correspondent in Stockholm."

"To better serve this rapidly growing community, Campanario and other blog correspondents established Urban Sketchers as a nonprofit organization on December 6, 2009. The nonprofit aims to organize educational workshops and raise funds for artists' grants and scholarships."

Check out the urban sketchers FAQ here: http://www.urbansketchers.org/p/faq.html

Ottawa Urban Sketchers?

About one in every twelve Ontario artists resides in the City of Ottawa (4,600, or 8%). Those numbers represent folks who make their living from creating.

We know that EVERYONE is an artist. There are many more artists working at other jobs and finding time to do some art in between. With so many artists in Ottawa, wouldn't it be great if there was a community of urban sketchers?

There are Urban sketcher chapters in  Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Wouldn't it be great to build a community here in Ottawa!

Sign Up for the
48th World Wide SketchCrawl 

If you live in the Ottawa area and love to sketch, consider signing up for the 48th World Wide SketchCrawl - July 25, 2015 - Ottawa