When I’m mixing gouache (an opaque, concentrated...

When I’m mixing gouache (an opaque, concentrated watercolor) I know I’m near the end of a project.  It’s the final touch on paintings that have taken months to prepare and complete; from initial sketches, edits to story, more sketches, research gathering, final drawings, color studies, inking, and watercolor.  The smell of gouache takes me back to art school when a professor, enamored with the stuff, had us mix large quantities for color palettes mostly, I think, to force us to not be so precious with paints that were expensive and came in small tubes.

After the last color had been mixed and applied to the pages, six months of work was finally finished.  I headed to the sink to wash the plastic palette I use for mixing, in what was a mundane, ordinary task.  Suddenly, my mind stopped and my spirit took over.  The sink was filled with vibrant colors; magentas mingled with oranges and purples and yellows.  In a moment, color filled every neuron in my brain, and I remembered ever briefly why I do the work I do.  An immediate, irrational, and physical love of color - it’s power to enchant us, absorb us, and capture our hearts.  My hope is that the work I produced captured some of that and some day a child will open my books and feel that too.