Samish Bay

“Samish Bay in Gouache” is a 6 x 9in. on watercolor paper. I painted this from a photo I took last time Beth and I were there.This is a view from a lagoon along Chuckanut Drive, a beautiful scenic drive just south of Bellingham, WA. I’ve just gotten a new 7 x 10 block of Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper, and am really liking the size to make small studies to hear more about how to use gouache paint. I was trying to figure out a good tabletop setup for these and found that my Sienna Plein Air Pochade box works perfectly. My paints and mixing try, along with with a water cup and mister all fit perfectly. The whole thing is quick and easy to set up and take down, and makes these little gouache paintings very convenient.

I pretty happy with how this one turned out. The colors are vibrant and the brushwork is clean and impressionistic.

This is my painting setup for these 6 x 9 gouache paintings.

For these 6 x 9in. gouache paintings I’m using 7 x 10in. Arches Hot Press Watercolor Paper. I use 1” art tape to cover 1/2” all the way around to give it a nice white boarder. They are then taped to a 9 x 12” hardboard. In my setup I’m using a Sienna Plein Air Pochade box which works great as a tabletop easel. My paints are a combination of Daniel Smith Gouache and Winsor & Newton gouache (that I buy at Blick) and I squeeze some of the paint into a 24 well airtight pallet and have porcelain mixing tray. Everything fits really well into the pochade box, which can be attached to a tripod for plain air painting. My iPad Air works really well for reference photos. The brushes I’m using are from Meeden.