Let the hilarity ensue!

I know I already posted about this but, I am participating in a figure painting competition next week, here in Boston--that's right, starting tomorrow!  The competition is being hosted by the Academy of Realist Art (112 South Street, Floor 2, Boston MA 02111--n.b. use zip to google map or you'll end up in JP) and parts of it will be open to the public.  There are ten artists from around the country and we will all be painting on the same size canvases, the same model, in the same pose, for 35 hours over the course of a week.  At the end of the week, on Saturday, August 1st from 1-4 there is a reception and awards presented at Sloane Merrill Gallery on Charles Street in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood.  Each day from 1:30 to 2:30 the public is welcome to come in and check out our progress at the Academy.  Here is a link http://www.araboston.com/events  with all the specifics and anything I left out.

I went to Maine and left my oil paints at home

I love oil paints. There's something about the tactile nature of them that appeals to me. I love the depth of their colors. I love that they take hours or days (or longer...) to dry. I can paint with other paints, even make beautiful things with other paints, but given the option, I will pick oils every time. I love oil paints. But. I don't love traveling with oil paints: they are messy, and heavy, and clumsy, and involve lots of "stuff" to pack, and the TSA in fond of confiscating them. I have a system, of course, because I have traveled with them often, but it's still always a hassle. So I decided to try a new paint (okay, not a new paint, an old paint, but new to me): gouache. In a nut shell, they are opaque watercolors: you get to paint on paper, they wash with water, they dry quickly. They sat in my studio giving me the stink eye for weeks..."You're ignoring us," they said. I ignored them; I had oil paint. But I did think they might be the solution to my travel painting, and I knew the only way I would use them, would practice with them until I was comfortable with them, was if I took them somewhere and left my oil paints at home. So I went to Maine, left my beloved paints at home, and tried out this gouache business. I don't hate them. (I'm queen of the understated compliment.) They are not oils. But. They might make a close second, which is pretty exciting, and totally worth it, then, to travel with a close second that weighs next to nothing and simplifies your travel baggage immensely. So here's a peak into my sketchbook from Maine, gouache and all: