Hi everyone,
First, I want to express my appreciation to the folks I
met at the Phoenix Comic Con in May. The diversity of people who came
up to my booth was astonishing..and unusual. Aside from a few
patrons who wanted to know if I taught private lessons (check the
website for my upcoming painting workshops), I was particularly enthralled by
the two professional athletes from the Phoenix Suns basketball team,
who happened to spy my Space Ghost cover for Back Issue magazine on
display. Highly intelligent and just plain high up, we talked art,
philosophy, and discussed the old-fashioned virtues of Jonny Quest cartoons for
a good hour. It would seem that everyone who is a fan of the Dude's has the
strength and intelligence of ten Grinches.
Yesterday was spent painting at the art school's
Open Studio class with the live model. For this painting, I thought I'd try
using--watercolor. Yes, watercolor. As everyone
knows, watercolor has two particular qualities that we should all know
about:
1. It's one of the hardest mediums to
master.
2. Every kid in grade school has painted with
it.
Hmmm.
Anyway, the painting turned out well that day, but with me and
my math-impaired brain behind the brush, pulling off the entire thing
in transparent watercolor seems all but impossible. So out comes the
white gouache and when I mix it with the watercolor, I can use it to
then go over my screw-ups and correct my mistakes. Ten points to the
eagle-eye out there who can spot the areas where I've applied the
gouache.
Gouache is an interesting medium, and an even more interesting
word. When pronounced, it resembles the sound of a nation of conveslesants
standing over the toilet during flu season. Most people can't even
spell it, let alone paint with it. I somehow managed to memorize this word
back in art school by realizing it contains the word "ache". I'm sure
there's a correlation.
And don't forget to sign up for the Dude's very first
instructional masterclass: "30 years in 4 days" The Steve
Rude Painting Workshop in September. The cry of the loons at
night are worth the price alone!
Talking in high volume,
Steve Rude the Dude
