Traditional gouache is opaque watercolour. It is rewettable like watercolour, and dries matt. Gouache is easy to reproduce and is therefore a hit among illustrators as well as artists. I like to add lots of water to it in order to introduce a slight degree of transparency. But what do 3 completely different artists, Amanda Senneby, Wendy Jacobs and Leah Davies, like to do with theirs?
Amanda Senneby
Amanda Senneby: ‘You and You’, gouache
Amanda Senneby is an artist, illustrator and designer who lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Her energy and colour filled work can be found at http://www.amandasenneby.se/
She says:
“For me gouache is something spontaneous and transformative. It’s a technique of opposites. Fragile but still dramatic, poetic and punk, dreamy and expressive. As an artist that is extremely exciting and interesting. Even though you can control it for a bit, you can never tame it”.
Leah Davies
Leah Davies: ‘Insight’, gouache
Leah Davies is an artist who specialises in nature and pet portrait painting, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Although she no longer works in gouache, she has no doubt of the reasons why she was drawn to this medium for a considerable amount of time.
“I can never get enough of the possibilities of gouache. By combining different methods, I am able to paint thin watery layers to create a loose base. Then, I switch gears and use it thick and opaque to garner intricate details. The pigments are clean and bright, and when it dries, a mat finish unifies all the layers”.
Wendy Jacob
Wendy Jacob: ‘Six Stacked Pots On A Shoebox’, gouache
Wendy Jacob is Vice President of the Royal Watercolour Society, and has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, The NEAC and the Discerning Eye. She is known for her characterful still life paintings.
“Gouache is a forgiving water-based medium. There is no special technique to master, as in pure watercolour, when the traditional ideal of transparent paint and fluid brushwork has to be kept in mind.
With gouache the opaque colours are vibrant, deep and solid, encouraging work to be made with impact and definition.The paint dries quickly so you are able to continue working and to easily repaint over areas you find unsatisfactory.
Gouache does not ruin your brushes if you fail to clean them immediately. This can apply to oils but is a particular problem with acrylic paint.
Just a few of the reasons I love to work in gouache”.
https://twitter.com/wendyjacob5
Browse gouache at jacksonsart.com by clicking here.
I would like to use gouache – I recently bought a number of tubes – and my main inspiration is the travel poster art of the 30’s – 50’s. I have usually been disappointed by ‘how to’ gouache sections in general or watercolour art books, are there any books you can recommend that describe the poster artist’s particular techniques?
Hi Peter,
Thanks for your comments. Annoyingly there aren’t very many books on gouache technique that I know about, I have had a search around on the internet a few times but to no avail. Anyone out there able to help us out on good gouache painting book recommendations? Let us know and we may be able to get a few titles stocked at Jackson’s.
Hi! Let me remember you that gouache is known under another name too: opaque watercolor. I bought a good book — it is an old one — that taughts some good techniques and exercises on the matter: PAINTING IN OPAQUE WATERCOLOR . by Rudy de Reyna. There is another one: COMO PINTAR A GUACHE, in Portuguese, from Editorial Presença. If you make a research under the name : opaque watercolor you are able to can find something helpful.
Sorry, I made a mistake on last sentence:
opaque watercolor — you are able to find something helpful.
Have a look at James Gurney’s work – http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/ His books have stuff for oils as well as gouache in them, but are Really good resources for any painter.
You can also have a look at Roz Stendhal’s work at http://rozwoundup.typepad.com/roz_wound_up/ – look through her gouache tags for a wealth of knowledge.
There aren’t a lot of “fine artists” who write about gouache, sadly. It has a bit of a bad rep, especially in North America, for being a designer’s tool or not colourfast (read labels if that worries you, the good brands will tell you).
The travel posters of that era are a lot of flat colours, so gouache will work really good on a hot pressed or vellum surface for you. Also, you can layer regular gouache over the waterproof types of acrylic gouache for fine details and touch ups and not have to worry about mud. Good luck!
Some excellent tips, thank you so much Elizabeth.
I found that a mix and mash with watercolour and gouache, you wouldn’t believe the dynamism achieved, although watercolour has that spontaneous effect, but with the added gouache a phenomenal power is added, if you haven’t tried it yet, trust me you really are missing out
Personally I use Gouache all the time with my watercolours to add fine transparency with opaque layers all in the same painting to give maximum flexibility when painting. Permanent white is used to assist these creative techniques instead of Chinese white which I feel is a little too ‘creamy’ or yellow in application and final effect.
Realistically you are looking at the same pigments in both Gouache and watercolour. When working with watercolour it is IMPORTANT to remember to work with stronger colour as the mix or wash always dries lighter than you initial anticipated. Very difficult for students to get their head around is this and mud is created through trying to alter subsequent layers one over the other to create the colour initially wanted.
In steps Goauche! The colour you mix with the pigment stays the SAME when dried. Gouache on its own can be thinned to work like watercolour and used opaquely (less water) very easily too.
I teach these techniques all the time for expressive paintings for different subjects and my students just love it! try the combination for yourself – nothing to loose but everything to gain! As Christopher states dynamic results indeed!
Hi Robert, thanks for your thoughts, and a good point about colour shift/alteration during the drying of watercolours/gouache. Another little pointer for bringing out the intensity of colours in watercolour might be to place complimentaries next to one another to really bring out the vibrancy.
The best book on gouache I know of is, ‘The
Art of Gouache’ by Jeremy Ford, Search
Press, paperback ISBN 978 1 78221 454 0.
UK £14.99 (2019).
Thanks Cathy! You can buy it here – https://www.jacksonsart.com/the-art-of-gouache-an-inspiring-and-practical-guide-to-painting-with-this-exciting-medium-book-by-jeremy-ford
Cathy – if you’d like to review this book on the Jackson’s website we’d be thrilled. Just click the link above and click on the reviews tab.
Many thanks
Lisa
I love Gouache! Been painting with it for
years. I paint with other mediums too but for
me Gouache is always like coming home!
Subtle watery or bright and vibrant such
freedom and expression can be achieved in
an instant, no matter the subject. Just go for
it… a love affair with this paint will grow!
Happy Painting fellow artists.x
That is true! Thanks for reading Julia!