ORIGINAL POST DATE: September 6, 2005

The second image was also done in my large sketchbook, using a combination of collagei, watercolor, gouachei, watercolor pencils and Prismacolor colored pencil. I introduced the use of gouache with this image from a desire to have a bolder look than I was getting with just the colored pencil and watercolor pencil combination. This is a companion piece to the image, Black Crow, which I recently added to the gallery.

Overall I am happy with how the gouache worked on the Moleskine sketchbook pages. Since tempera paints are one of the recommended mediums for this notebook I wanted to give this a try. There isn't any of the beading with the gouache that is an issue when using watercolor on the pages. This was true even when using the gouache thinned down to a watercolor consistency. The pages do end up buckling a little, but no too badly. Once the paint had dried, but when the pages still held some water, I put several loose pieces of paper on the back side of the pages and then used the band to hold the sketchbook closed. This helped the pages to dry flatter and with less buckling. I do like how this sketchbook is taking on a feeling of being used as the pages fill up. It has lost that pristine feeling that it had when is was new, and begins to show that there might be something interesting inside it, behind the quiet black cover.