GOUACHE

Gouache

Gouache provides watercolorists with a new way to capture a subject. Opaquely or transparently. Learn how to use this easy medium to fit your personal style of painting and you might find out it has all of the qualities and more than watercolors.

Remember back to your childhood and painting with poster paint? Gouache is the beloved poster paint all grown up. Lay the color on thick and creamy and cover huge surfaces without a hint of brush stroke. There is no panic to paint fast and furious, as some beginning watercolorists tend to do. You can even paint your entire background in first, and then put the details on top. It does not matter if the details on top are lighter...gouache is an opaque medium.

Opaque

Unlike painting in transparent watercolors, gouache lies on the surface. This means that on colored grounds (even black paper) the paint color remains true and unaffected by the color below. Gouache paints dry to a smooth matte finish and the finished painting has a flawless sophisticate suede-like quality. Indeed gouache is frequently used in the design and illustration industry.

Transparent

Gouache is basically opaque watercolor and just like watercolor, you can achieve loose juicy washes. Gouache is made by grinding pigments together in the same medium as is used for watercolor and can be applied to paper in the same manner, remaining workable even after it dries on the painting surface.

Tips

When mixing to match, always test the color on the side and wait for it to dry. Darker colors appear lighter when dry, and the light color you were aiming for suddenly looks darker when it dries.

Caveat

Store or ship gouache paintings flat. Rolled paintings will crack. As a matter of fact, gouache applied too thickly or in too many layers will chip or flake.

Ready? Set? Paint

Squeeze a dime sized bit of paint into a palette well. Add ½ to equal amount of water to the paint. Stir with an old worn out brush. The consistency should be creamy. Unlike acrylics, gouache will last forever even after it has dried to hard bits. Simply spritz or re wet and you are back in business. So don’t wash out your palette at days end.

Pronunciation

Gwash or goo-wash.

-Cynthia Padilla

Cynthia Padilla-Come along as we learn and improve drawing skills through direct observation.  Explore the traditional dry media applications of graphite pencil, colored pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, and pastels.  I am a national instructor of drawing and sketching through the traditions of Plein Air Field Sketching, the Botanical Arts and Naturalist Illustration.