Perhaps the biggest gift of an ending is the beginning that follows.

©2025 Elizabeth Fram, Gouache on paper, 12″ x 18″

This past summer has left me with a lot to digest.
Marked most significantly by the loss of my father, I can’t ignore that that sadness was bookended by two events which have brought me tremendous joy. Both “Full Bloom” in June and “Holding – Mementos Kept, Memories Kindled” (which wraps up at the Kent Museum this Sunday, 10/12) have grounded me over the past several months while being an ongoing reminder of the irrefutable fact that life is inherently a mixture of bitter and sweet.

©2025 Elizabeth Fram, Gouache on paper, 12″ x 18″

Maybe it’s the confluence of these three recent endings that has led me to seek out something new this fall. Without departing too terribly far from the familiar, I treated myself recently to a basic palette of gouache and a few new brushes. With no particular endpoint in mind, I have been having a wonderful time this week, just seeing what happens.

If you look closely, you will see this was the first pass for the painting below.

Following the examples of Sandi Hester and Peggi Kroll Roberts, I divided a sketchbook spread into quadrants of color as a starting point, then ad-libbed a composition of items from my work table — letting those initial four colors be something of a guide without being too restrictive. The point for now is to keep things simple, concentrate on learning to handle the paint, and to make discoveries about color. I’ve ended up happily lost in the process.

©2025 Elizabeth Fram, Gouache on paper, 9: x 12″

Up to this point, my only painting experience is with transparent watercolor, so the opaque quality of gouache is a revelation. It has triggered a whole different way of thinking and is SO MUCH FUN! I can’t help but consider a million possibilities, not to mention how great it will be to incorporate stitch once I get my sea legs and figure out where I may be headed.

©2025 Elizabeth Fram, Gouache on paper, 9″ x 12″

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Not able to make it to Calais for “Holding” at Art at the Kent?  Get a taste of its unique flavor with this episode of  Across The Fence.   If you keep your eyes peeled, you’ll see a few of my pieces along the way.

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In case you didn’t already see it, please enjoy this gifted-to-you New York Times article by Sam Thielman and Gabriel Gianordoli about Emil Ferris – “The Comics Artist Who Sees Monsters in Museums, and in the Mirror”. Her drawings are spectacular.