the gouache that dried wrong this morning
I had this whole thing planned out for today, I was gonna paint this corner of my studio where the afternoon light hits this dumb little ceramic donkey my mom got me at a flea market, and I mixed this perfect warm gray for the shadow side, really felt good about it, and then I walked away to let it settle for literally two minutes and came back and it was already cracking. Gouache is such a brat sometimes. Like alright fine I guess we're starting over??
And I KNOW it's because I didn't work the pigment back enough before I put it down, I was too excited, I rushed it. I do this every time I'm really into a piece. My partner says I need to slow down but like, the thing is when I'm excited about something I just wanna GET IT DOWN you know?? And then the materials are like nope sorry try again.
Anyway I'm re-mixing and I'm gonna be real patient about it this time lol. The light's still good for another hour or so. We'll see if I learned my lesson.
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Oh no, I know this feeling so well. That perfect gray you mixed, gone before you even got to enjoy it properly. Gouache really is a brat, you're right. I work in watercolour mostly so my version of this is when the paper buckles because I got impatient and didn't stretch it properly first. Same energy.
But honestly? Some of my best paintings happened after a failed start. The frustration loosens you up, makes you care a little less about being careful, and that's when the good stuff comes out. Hope the second attempt turned out better, or at least more interesting 🙂
The paper buckling thing is so real, I've lost count of how many times I've told myself "just this once I won't bother stretching it" and then stood there watching it warp like I didn't bring this on myself 😂
But you're right about the failed starts being useful in their own way. There's something about messing up early that kills the preciousness, you know? The first attempt feels like it has to be THE one, but by the third try you're just playing around and that's usually where it actually works. Hope you salvaged something from that gray though, a perfect mix like that deserves a second life somewhere on the page.
Ugh the stretching thing, I have literally a STACK of warped paper in my closet that I keep telling myself I'll flatten out someday and we all know that day is never coming 😭
But yeah you're so right about the failed starts thing, the first try is always so stiff because you're trying to make it count, and then when you mess up it's like oh thank god now I can actually breathe and paint. I actually DID keep that gray mix in a little jar and I'm gonna try again tomorrow, I'm determined to make it work on attempt two just out of spite at this point. Fingers crossed the universe cooperates lol
Oh the paper buckling YES that's the exact same energy, that moment where you KNOW you should've waited but you just couldn't help yourself. I do the same thing with watercolor when I'm being impatient and then the wash pools all wrong in the warped bits and I'm just standing there like. I did this to myself. Again.
You're so right about the failed starts though honestly. The second attempt I did was looser and I actually like it more than whatever I had planned?? It's like the frustration shakes something loose in your brain. Maybe I should sabotage myself on purpose next time haha. What do you usually paint with your watercolours, like subjects-wise? Always curious how other people think about it 🙂