I was inspired by the sketchbooks of Dina Brodsky, who uses text and gouache to great effect. This project of mine is going to have a text element, so I was excited to see how she incorporated it. I’ve done a similar thing with an acrylic painting I contributed to the Detroit 300 exhibit.

I’m playing around with the order of using each medium, as well as the direction of the writing. I chose a detail from one of my favourite paintings: the Magnificat by James Tissot, one of the few paintings to show Mary in traditional Palestinian clothes, the ‘royal dress’ of Bethlehem. I was a little looser with the second one, but both use watercolour, gouache, and graphite pencil.

Which one do you prefer?