In my last pet portrait class, we had picked the figurine that we liked drawing best and sketched it out on some nicer paper. This week, we painted them with Gouache. Why a KangaPoo (you might ask)? Well, I liked the kangaroo, but her pouch looked so empty since her joey was missing. Since there was a poodle nearby that fit into the pouch nicely, it seemed like a good fit. Oh, and why not? In case you are wondering about the holes in the kangaroo’s head, she is actually a salt shaker. I could have removed the holes in my painting, but I think they made it more fun!

This was my first time painting with Gouache. I like that it can be transparent, like watercolors, but also has the ability to be opaque. Although this ability is awesome, at times it was also frustrating. The paint that I laid down was sometimes much darker than I had expected it to be. After a lot of reworking and adding water, I finally got the colors to where I wanted them. I’m guessing that, like anything, the more I do it, the easier it will get.