Last day of a road trip vacati0n…. Tom is already asleep …. I was ten stories up reflecting on the last seven days on the road.
I love those precious moments when I realize, and accept, that progress has been made.
I brought along gouache, but didn’t squeeze it out into the pans until last night, listening to the sound of the ocean waves breaking against the beach. I brushed a bit of color onto the ink drawing I did of the kitchen in the motel room in the Outer Banks, NC.
This morning I awoke early to an amazing predawn light upon the ocean…
This is my first weather journal painting in gouache. My second was of three figures on the beach, out early to watch the sun rise. I wish they knew that their special moment was captured in my sketchbook….. but I don’t know them and they will never know….

One figure snapping a photo of the other two figures against the sunrise in Ocean City, Maryland …. gouache.
Color has taken on a new place in my vision….. I’m not sure where that place is. In a week I leave on another journey… back to the Chesapeake Bay area to paint for six days…… Hmmmm. Do I bring watercolors and gouache? Oil paints? Acrylics?
I am finally mixing my pigments intuitively. I need to stay healthy for another thirty years, at least….. the joy of color is just beginning!
You definitely have the right idea–sketch, sketch, sketch! I wish I were as disciplined as you! The tray with all its colors is enough to make my mouth water. You definitely have a nice, loose stroke needed for good sketching.
I don’t know that I’m disciplined. I simply can’t stop myself from drawing and painting. I’m glad you like the sketches.
Your beautiful sketches are real treasures. My fav has to be the sunrise. ..but all are great.
Thanks, Julie.