Summer on the Sound

"Dropping the Spinnaker," casein on illustration board, ~8x16

This painting is a view of the coast of  Puget Sound from a sailboat. Another sailboat has stopped to drop their huge spinnaker, the sail you sometimes see ballooning from the front of this type of boat.

This painting was done using casein, a kind of paint made using milk protein emulsified with linseed oil. It's water soluble, but once it dries casein is almost bulletproof. Like other water media--acrylics, gouache, even watercolor--casein dries very quickly, which is both an advantage and a hindrance. Quick drying means the ability to work over previous painted passages within a few minutes. But it also requires quick decision-making and good eye-hand skills too.