#favcember2024

[heatherfranzen]

I’m painting some coastcards using prompts from Cara’s favcember2024 challenge. The first prompt is Happy Memory.

I painted a moment from my May trip to Poland when we saw the dragon at the end of the Dragon’s Cave tour at Wawel Castle in Kraków. It breathes actual fire!

My favorite way to paint fire or other glowy things against blue is to first lay down a bit of lilac (my favorite color) and then slowly build layers of red, yellow, and finally white.

Holbein acryla gouache and Liquitex acrylic gouache on a 4x4” wood coaster.

[heatherfranzen]

Second prompt for #favcember2024 is Quiet Moment. In September, I went on a camping trip, and I woke up right before sunrise and caught sight of this streetlamp by the bathrooms. The sky was beautiful and the air was still and silent aside from the occasional chirp or caw.

My favorite way to paint trees and shrubs is to paint a large blob to lay down the overall tree shape, then “carve” the background into that blob to suggest leaves and twigs and branches. It always turns out more organic and natural than trying to paint the details of a tree over the background. I just have to remember to not add sky where a tree trunk should be (easy to cover up if I do, though).

Painted with Holbein acryla gouache and Liquitex acrylic gouache on a 4x4” wood coaster.