Full Moon on Monday

And, "Nothing is a mistake... there's only make."

Hi Friend,

I’ve owned a set of gouache (pronounced “gwash”) paints for many years, always meaning to take the time to learn how to use them. If you don’t already know, gouache are like if acrylic and watercolor paints got together and had a baby, who they named with as many vowels as possible. They’re opaque like acrylic, but are water based. They dry with a matte finish, and can be hard to layer. Dark colors lighten up after drying and light colors darken. They inspire passionate love/hate debates online.

Despite these contradictions, I forged ahead and found a gouache tutorial that featured a full moon. Serendipitous, it would seem, as there was an extra bright Super Moon this past Monday. (Which naturally led to a slightly altered loop of Duran Duran’s song “New Moon on Monday,” going through my head.)

Another source of inspiration came from an IG post by

Katy Hessel

about Corita Kent, a prolific artist and teacher, and who created these art department rules:

Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules by Sister Corita Kent

These really resonated for me, especially:

• Consider everything an experiment.

• Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail. There’s only make.

• Don’t try to create and analyze at the same time. They’re different processes.

Since starting this newsletter, it has been pretty natural for me to judge whether or not something is good enough to share and also try to figure out what I should say about it, all while in the process of making the art.

It suddenly sunk in how truly unhelpful it was! While this might appear to be expert multitasking, it’s actually a disaster. Not only does it get in the way of experimentation and flow, it sometimes becomes the reason why I don’t want to send anything out at all, even when I’ve created art that I could share.

Gouache painting lesson with a full moon and starry sky, plants and closeups of leaves in different shades of green.

This epiphany occurred somewhere in the middle of the lesson, and I was able to adopt a more gentle and neutral gaze towards my work. I’m quite pleased with the results, both on the page and in my thoughts. I’m able to appreciate what I’ve accomplished, while also noticing some things I’d like to practice more. How very refreshing!

Hope you’re having a lovely day.

xo

Tanya