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Red Camellia 8"x10" Gouache

The word gouache usually pronounced (gwah-sh).

Gouache is the painting medium that has similar pigments and binding agent (gum Arabic) used in the watercolor medium. Other additives are also used to make it an opaque medium. It is sold in small tubes just like watercolors.

Unfortunately, to the majority of artists, it has been of little interest as a significant medium. Some artists use Chinese white or permanent white in minor opaque segments in an otherwise transparent watercolor. Such a painting is usually identified as a gouache picture. In this newsletter I am talking about gouache paintings done in a strictly opaque fashion with no transparency detected in the pictures. Some use it as a minor opaque part in a mostly transparent watercolor. Only a few, to my knowledge, use it in an exclusively opaque fashion, the way that appeals to me, (exemplified in this newsletter).

I am often drawn to painting in gouache and consider it a favorite medium. It is my habit, whenever I switch to a new medium to make it my primary medium of choice for a few weeks duration, during which time I familiarize myself with, and capitalize on the medium's most prominent characteristics.

The attractiveness of a gouache picture for me lies in the medium's unique characteristics: It needs to have a matte surface quality, and it needs to be opaque throughout. The less complicated a subject is the better it is suited to be painted in gouache. At one time I believed vigorous brushstrokes detract from the gouache flat appearance. Recently I have come to the conclusion that any subject would be suitable to the gouache medium.

Although gouache has been utilized by artists for hundreds of years in one form or another, it had not, for some reason, held popularity as a major painting medium of choice. In modern times it is used primarily by illustrators as a means to an end because it can be easily reproduced, and not as a fine art medium in its own right.

Gouache can be painted quickly which makes it perfect for sketching. For me a thick board, such as a good quality illustration board, with archival surface, rather than the usual thin sketchbook paper is preferable.

The opaque gouache painting process is also unique. Application of a creamy uniform consistency of paint is a must to have an attractive opaque and reflective surface. If painted too thick, the surface may, in time, show cracks, and when painted very thinly, it may show unattractive semi-transparent streaks. It takes practice to maintain the creamy constituency, but it is a worthwhile effort.

Also, one has to keep in mind that when gouache dries, the lighter value color may look darker than when wet, and the dark paint becomes lighter.