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!