Veronica Colvin

Contemporary Realist Painter

Sketching in Gouache

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Hello world – it’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog!

Life has been busy, and I’ve neglected my website and blog. However, I’ve been painting, drawing, and sketching a great deal over the past 12 months, along with other projects happening behind the scenes. For now, I thought I’d at least update the site with a Gouache Sketch Gallery.

The Gallery includes sketches done from life while out and about, or in the studio from a life model or still life set-ups. Many more were done over the past year, but I’ve chosen to share only those that feel finished – for a sketch!

These sketches were completed in approximately one to three hours. Some were done in small sketch books (12 x 12 cm), while others were done on A5 or A4 watercolour paper.

Painted in gouache and enhanced with watercolour pencils for added texture and definition. Occasionally, a fude fountain pen – using brown or grey ink – was used for preliminary sketches or additional detail (I really dislike black ink for sketching, but that’s a rant for another day).

As time goes by, I will continue to add to this gallery. And I promise, it will not be another year between updates!

Below are some images from the Gallery. The rest can be seen here.

Hands, hands, hands!

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I have a fascination with hands. Over the years I’ve painted different types and styles of hands. My latest work is a small study of Tempe Manning’s hand from her 1939 Archibald Finalist self portrait (see main image below).

Every single time I walk into the Art Gallery of NSW, I head straight to this painting and study it for ages. I absolutely love her colour work, her confidence using chromatic paint, the warm cool shifts and brush work.

Below are some of the hands I’ve painted over the years. I will never tire of painting them.

Pushing My Boundaries

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I decided to dedicate these last couple of months to sketching in public and museums, and exploring new art materials (or old materials that I own and haven’t touched in years).

It was good to step away from portrait / oil painting for a period of time. Getting out of my comfort zone, exploring new mediums and pushing my boundaries has forced me to think differently about my artwork and how I want to progress.

It has also been great to keep a “colour” sketchbook during these last couple of months. A journal that I do not share, and hence, allowing myself a space to explore concepts, colour and mark making and to make mistakes. Some of the pages are rubbish – and it’s fabulous!

Years ago I used to paint in gouache. It’s an opaque medium, and one has to be very careful with how much water is used in order to control the hue and value shift it does when dry. Challenging and a little bit stressful at times, but it felt good to push myself to try something new(ish).

The gouache still life paintings below are from one-day monthly sketch sessions done at my studio. I do these sessions with another artist, and between catching-up and laughing, we do manage to get some painting done!

Creating Colour 5 – From Screen to Print

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Mastering Colour Fidelity in Digital Media

This webinar introduces the five domains of digital printmaking from the perspective of colour reproduction and colour fidelity across topics including monitor calibration, the preparation of digital images for print, selection of print media, colour management, and metamerism. Finally, Dr Les Walkling will give some pointers on lighting and displaying prints, as well as hard proofing on a local printer. 

Creating Colour 4 – Dynamic Colour in Digital Art

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In this webinar Steve Forster gives us a taste of his digital creative process, in particular the way he approaches and creates diversity in colours and colour palettes. Starting with a brief overview of differences – and similarities – between the digital and traditional painting processes, he shows how he structures digital palettes when painting portraits, landscapes and more abstract themes. This is followed by a “wild colour” illustration where, building on a value structure (in the sense of Munsell), he goes on to use the full range of colour expression that digital tools provide.

Shane – Oil Sketch from Life

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I just finished teaching Portrait Drawing and Portrait Painting at Sydney Art School on Mondays this term. In between teaching and critiquing student’s work, I managed to paint a very quick oil sketch of the model for the term – Shane.

I demo as we work through the term. I would have liked to have finished it, but I’m there to teach, not paint!

I’m back teaching Term 1, 2024. Classes start Monday, 29 January. If you are interested in joining my class, you can enrol here.

The school is still running the promo from this term – but it will most likely go down soon. So if you are interested, best to quickly enrol for next year so as not to miss out on the savings.