A New Meraki Meadow Piece

Welcome to Bea’s Bed and Breakfast! Tucked deep inside the Meraki Meadow, this is where you’ll find the coziest beds and the most delicious stacks of pancakes.

I’m BEYOND excited to share this illustration with you! Dare I say, I think it might be my favorite Meraki Meadow piece? Maybe it’s all the golden tones or simply the coziness of the scene… who knows?

Anyhoo, this piece was most definitely a labor of love. It was the first Meraki Meadow piece I’d made since my 30 day journey of healing my relationship with my creativity, and I think that healing shows in this piece. From the preliminary sketches to the color comp to the hours and hours of painting, I loved every little bit of the process. I also decided to give some different gouache techniques a try!

One of the things I learned about in Justin Donaldson’s Gouache Course earlier this year is that gouache has different states of being. There’s this “alive” state where the paint is a bit thinner, able to move around more wildly, and creates lots of unique effects. Then there’s the “dead” state where the paint is at its thickest and most opaque, solid and steady. Both states are wildly, wonderfully different and great for achieving different outcomes, but I’d been working mostly in the “dead” state. It’s where I was most comfortable. That “alive” state was a bit more uncontrollable, and we all know I’m a bit of a control freak.

So, for this illustration, now that I was in my new Super Explorative Headspace, I decided to give both stages a try and everywhere in between. I won’t lie, it was uncomfortable. It was unfamiliar. But it was oh so fun! I used the “alive” state on the wall in the foreground and on the flooring to give more texture and life to the piece. I had to consciously remind myself NOT to keep adding to these areas (other than building in my shadows) because I didn’t want them to get overworked and end up falling back on the “dead” state. This illustration was a challenge in all the best ways. It challenged my fear of not being in control and it challenged my mindset that I could only paint with gouache in one way.

So, maybe my love for this piece has more to do with how much I enjoyed working on it and how much it grew me as an artist and less about how it looks? Either way, I’m so happy to finally show it to you. 😊

I do have a few prints of this one available in my shop if you’d like to add it to your own collection!