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Note from the Atelier August 22, 2026 Hi There Reader... Last week, I wasn't done with my back-to-school shopping. This week, I'm apparently not done thinking about artistic style. In my last newsletter, I wrote about where to look for clues that might help us find our style. This week, I'm taking that thought a little further. We'll look for clues about how it makes us (and hopefully someone else) feel. And speaking of feelings...I spent two days this week playing with gouache, a medium I'd forgotten how much I enjoy. Perhaps there's something to be said for paying attention to what makes us smile...huh. Cheers!

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The Sly Smile and the Nod

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Last week I wrote about the elusive question of artistic style.

What makes something look like someone's work? Is it the colors they use? The materials? The marks they make? The subjects they choose?

Apparently, I wasn't finished thinking about it.

A few days later, artist Nicholas Wilton's Bloom post suggested that perhaps we’re asking the wrong question.

Instead of asking what we want our work to look like, what if we ask how we want it to feel?

Not just how we want someone else to feel when they see it. How do we want to feel while we're making it? How do we want to feel when we step back and look at it?

That's a very different question.

And oddly, I knew my answer almost immediately.

I want a sly smile.

Not a belly laugh. I'm not particularly interested in making joke art. And I don't mean a sarcastic or cynical smile (though I do like those).

It's that little smile you get when you notice something unexpected. When your eyes smile, too.

Oh.

I see what you did there.

Once I thought about my work that way, I started connecting some dots.

I've spent months trying to understand how my abstracts, mixed media, collage, printmaking and more representational work might eventually fit together. I've wondered whether I need recurring colors or certain materials or special marks to create a recognizable style.

But what if they don't all need to look alike?

What if they just need to feel alike?

That question puts me in the Wayback Machine.

As a kid, I once dressed as an enormous alarm clock for Halloween. I could stand inside it and turn the hands.

Later there was the fly swatter costume.

Then there was an expressway-style billboard advertising that I was "Available," complete with my actual phone number and two papier-mâché workmen painting the sign.

I made twelve-foot soft-sculpture carrots in high school.

I have enormous silverware hanging on my dining room wall and own an absurdly oversized pencil and paintbrush.

There's something about taking the familiar and shifting it just enough that it becomes interesting again. A change in scale. Something where it doesn't belong. Two things that suddenly make an unexpected connection.

None of those things were part of an artistic style.

Maybe what connects them is the feeling they evoke.

I simply liked them. They made me smile. They were fun.

Maybe what connects them is that feeling. That little moment of delight and recognition that often comes with a nod of the head.

And there it is.

The sly smile and the nod.

That's how I want to feel when I make my work. That's how I want someone else to feel when they see it.

And maybe the clues have been sitting there all along, in the things we choose for our homes, the clothes we wear, the places we travel, the meals we serve, the books we read and, apparently, the ridiculous things we decide to be for Halloween.

I’m still figuring out what all of this means for my art.

But I think I have a new question to ask when I stand back and look at something I’ve made.

Not: Does this look like me?

But: Does this feel like me?

And I’m beginning to think I know what I want that feeling to be.

A sly smile.

And a little nod of the head.

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Gouache: Somewhere Between Watercolor and Acrylic

I've been playing with gouache again lately, and I have to say, I forget how much I enjoy it.

This week, I spent two days immersed in Gouache Live, an online event devoted entirely to...gouache (hence the name ;) ). In anticipation, I pulled out my set and did a few paintings to get reacquainted. It had definitely been a while!

If you've never painted with gouache, it's a water-based paint that's often described as somewhere between watercolor and acrylic. Like watercolor, you can thin it with water and sort of achieve transparent washes. But gouache is more opaque, giving you the ability to layer light colors over dark ones in a way that's tough with traditional watercolor.

And unlike acrylic, it doesn't become permanent when it dries. Add a little water and it comes right back to life.

That makes gouache wonderfully portable. You can squeeze colors from the tubes into a small palette, let them dry and rewet them later, much like watercolor. Add a sketchbook, a couple brushes and a container of water, and you have a compact setup for plein air painting, urban sketching or traveling.

I've discovered that I especially like using gouache on toned tan paper rather than white. There's something about starting with that warm mid-tone that appeals to me. The opacity really makes the lighter colors pop and I don't have to contend with all that glaring white paper staring back at me.

There's another thing I like about gouache: much like watercolor, there's not a lot of hullabaloo required.

I can pull out a small set of paints and make a quick study without feeling as though I'm embarking on A Painting. I can experiment with colors/values/shapes, work out a composition or just paint something because it caught my eye.

But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that it also has its quirks. Because the paint can always be reactivated, if you paint over an earlier layer with too much water, you may discover that the color underneath has decided to join the party. Getting the amount of water right when adding another layer can be a bit of a balancing act!

If you want to give it a try, pick up a set of primary colors, a nice dark and white. From that, you can mix anything.

After two days of Gouache Live, I'm certainly not abandoning acrylic or mixed media. But sometimes it's fun to mix things up a little.

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