A Few Weeks Ago

Hoff, "Winter Sun," gouache on panel, 6x8

This particular painting is 6x8 on a gesso panel, done using a kind of gouache. The panel was an old, stained one (notice the pool of transparent dark, upper right) that was in the studio. The gouache base I used was titanium white to which I added staining watercolors to make the colored passages. Normally when painting with gouache you'd use several tubes of separate hues, but this method seems to work in a pinch. This is the view of my studio window in mid-February, around Valentine's Day. Quite a change in six weeks--the grass outside is bright green and the honeysuckle undergrowth is a frothy, yellow-green cloud.