i turned 37 last month (i know, i'm as surprised as you) and celebrated with my bff gouache

the gilbert riparian preserve is pretty darn cool for being a manmade thing in the middle of the city. it's huge and free and full of critters and plants and there are even bike camping spots you can reserve in advance, which i hope to do sometime!

trying for finer detail with these relatively quick studies, it's not easy even with tiny brushes but i'm getting better. this was a couple hours of work. i've been bringing my larger gouache set with me on the last couple trips, trying to spend more time painting and less time mixing colors from scratch. i really love the simple act of doing this- packing a sketchbook and some snacks, going somewhere cool, and just seeing what ends up on the page, even if they haven't all been masterpieces. it's just a very nice way to spend some time and i don't do it for anyone but myself. 10/10 would recommend