Last night my step-granddaughter Mariah, a brilliant, almost 10 year-old artist with an enviable sense of design and assurance and confidence in her work came over for a visit while her parents went out to dinner. Even though she she was sick, she was still up for doing some drawing and painting.
We picked a few camellias from my tree and got to work (or was it play?) drawing. She wanted to use acrylics; I fooled around with gouache and watercolor. Here’s her painting:
And here are the two I did last night. (The one at the top top of this post I did this morning, with the flowers beside the window. I wasn’t ready to stop painting these pretty flowers, the first of the flowers to bloom in my garden.)
I really don’t like the way using white with gouache looks so chaulky. I much prefer the clear lights in watercolor that you get by leaving areas white or only lightly glazed with color.
Jana Bouc, Artist 
2 replies on “Painting Camellias with Mariah”
I love how things are blooming around here! And that pink is marvelous. A couple of days ago I saw a woman sketching on BART, on the Richmond line, and I was CERTAIN it was you, so I actually went over and asked her if she blogged. She gave me that “you are insane and please get out of my personal space” look before telling me I was insane and please go away, so I knew she wasn’t you. But I love thinking that you’re out there putting all the beauty in the east bay (and more) down on paper.
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Your watercolors are so beautiful, Jana. I can see why you are disappointed with the gouache as compared to the watercolor.
Wow! Mariah’s painting would make a great poster. I want a print!
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