Gouache Painting Demonstrations

About Deborah Secor

I’m a Christian, a Jesus follower. He gave His life away for the greatest reason possible: so everyone could understand that we can have eternal life. As a follower, I give my life away freely, too, though not like He did (since I’m obviously not God.) My firm belief is that…God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners….For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

I began my art career in 1979 with a BA in Fine Arts from California State College, Bakersfield, and soon after began showing my landscapes in Old Town, Albuquerque. I permanently relocated to New Mexico in 1981, launching out to do art fairs and exhibitions, and showing my work in galleries throughout the southwest.

My choice to limit my work to soft pastels led to workshops with international pastelist Albert Handell, who became a mentor to me for some seven years, during which time I inaugurated The Pastel Society of New Mexico, as well as beginning to teach adult students how to paint landscapes in pastels.

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Spontaneous Painting – An Activity For The Whole Family…

Art does not always have to be created for the purpose of impressing others, or for making money, or for a competition in an art show. Art can be personal and therapeutic or simply a fun and enjoyable way to share your time with your friends and family. Sometimes I do not feel like thinking about a painting, or drawing any preliminary sketches or studies. Sometimes I just want to paint and get right into those deep rich colors and textures and just let my imagination run wild. I think as artists we need to do this sometimes and not spend so much time on the technical aspects of things.

The other day, my wife Pauline and I sat down and decided we would do just that. We went out to our local art store and bought some art supplies. We spent about 50 dollars. I was feeling rather adventurous that day and decided to steer away from my normal comfort zone of oil paints and decided to try something new.

I had been reading a few books and articles on mixed media work and thought I would give it a go. I picked up a box of Reeves assorted gouache paints, a box of 25 Cray Pas oil pastels, a set of 30 brushes for acrylics, watercolor and oils, a mixing dish, Master’s brush cleaner and preserver and a pad of Strathmore watercolor paper. I wanted paper with some texture or “tooth” for accepting different mediums.

I picked up a pad of acid free Strathmore 300 series paper. It is a heavy weight, cold pressed paper. According to the packaging, it is suited for watercolor experimentation and it accepts a variety of techniques. I felt it would do just fine for a mixed media work of gouache and oil pastels.

When we got home, we printed out two photos from our honeymoon vacation. References photos are below.

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