Playing with a new medium

So I'm trying to step away from (mostly) digital illustration for a bit and have dipped my college-era paintbrushes into some gouache.  I have only dabbled in the medium in the past but can't consider myself remotely experienced.  This is a quick piece where I was playing with gouache, colored pencil, and ballpoint pen on bristol.  I really like the texture of the paint when I went to draw on it with the pencil.  So any suggestions on the medium and tools?  I can't wait to play more!!!

How many sketches?

These are some sketches I did for a group postcard sent out in 2008. I think it's fun to share all the discarded ideas, and to ponder if you made the right choice for concepts. I actually wish I chose a few others before the one I ended up painting, seen below. Particularly the hug off the school bus. There's something about that one that gets me every time. I think I'm just a sucker for hugs!I've also changed my style so my kids have eyeballs rather than just dots. So many people do 'just dots' successfully but I don't think I was getting the most emotion out of my characters that way. I also used to 'paint' blush with photoshop, now that I'm better at painting, I just use gouache and it looks much more natural.