In celebration of his most recent video, Gouache in the Wild,
James Gurney hosted a competition to paint a gas station in gouache.
The contest was simple: paint a gas station on location (en plein
air) using only black &
white gouache. The top ten paintings would be featured on Gurney's
blog, Gurney Journey,
with physical prizes going to a Grand Prize winner and three
honorable mentions.
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| My entry for the contest, gouache, 5x8" |
The competition was fierce. Established veterans were joining the contest alongside gouache newcomers like myself, and the results speak for themselves. Everyone did a wonderful job, and I must say I'm certainly in great company in the top ten.
After watching Gouache in the Wild, I was intrigued by the medium, which seemed like a mix of qualities I enjoy in both watercolor and oil. The contest was a fun and exciting way to encourage artists from around the world to try out the medium, and it certainly hooked me.
James Gurney says of my entry:
“This
painting by Nicholas
Elias
picks up on the weird forms of the superstructure above the pump,
with all those fire prevention nozzles. And it looks like he's
got a cool palette rig to hold the sketchbook vertically.”
Many winners provided more information about their entries, so I wanted to share some more info about mine. James picked up on the structures above the pump, but when I first picked the subject, I was actually drawn to the old-fashioned full-service booth joined with a modern gas station. The gas station is a Sunoco right up the street from where I live, and I never noticed how uncommon the booth was until now.
Fittingly enough, as I was painting, the gas station attendent in the booth glared at me suspiciously for the entire two hour session. He seemed particularly bewildered when I first pulled up, sat on my trunk, and started setting up my tripod. But even after a couple of hours, he didn't seem to get used to it. Thankfully he left me alone to paint and didn't ask me to leave.
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| Posing for a shot on location with the painting nearly complete |
James also picked up on my pochade rig, or what little of it was showing in the photo above. Many of you may already be familiar with my oil painting pochade box, custom built out of a cigar box. Modifying the box for painting with gouache was actually very simple. I took the top of an old 24 colored pencil set, turned it upside down, and it just so happened to sit perfectly on top of the removable oil palette in my box. The smooth aluminum surface was perfect for mixing gouache, and makes for easy clean up.
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| Modified pochade box for gouache |
My pochade box already had a shelf that holds 1/8” boards in place, but it was thick enough to hold my sketchbook. In keeping with the spirit of trying new things, I used a watercolor sketchbook recommended by Gurney from Pentallic. The hard covers protect the delicate surface of gouache paintings, and I'm really enjoying the paper's surface with goauche. I have yet to try it with watercolor.
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| 5 minute perspective sketch done in watercolor pencil which dissolved after being painted over. |
From set up to clean up I was on location for two and a half hours. This was my second gouache painting ever, and it was already significantly stronger than my first. I'm eager to play with the medium more, and I'm thankful to James Gurney for his video and the contest for introducing me to such a wonderful new medium!
