Tuesday, June 15, 2010

And Then There Were Three...in gouache

Okay...here is the same painting I did before (scroll down once post). The first one is in transparent watercolor. This one is watercolor and gouache. I added white gouache to my colors to make them opaque.

Both are the same size exactly and are both on Arches 140# hot press.

Hmmm. Now I haven't taken Karen's class yet. That is tomorrow. I am just playing around in preparation for her class trying to get a feel for what are the questions I want to ask.

I have seen Donna Zagotta's DVD and read her article in a recent magazine (gosh, now I forget which one). So I have a little idea of what this is about.
The darks are straight indigo watercolor with no gouache...hard to get a dark if you add white.

Most of the whites are the paper. Although some of the wave action and some of the feathers on the gulls and the clouds are gouache. I just couldn't get the point of covering the white paper with white paint, but I think that Donna does. Her painting is ALL paint when she is done. Many things are easier to do in opaque medium (like waves, clouds, etc. since you can put a lighter color over a darker.) That is the main difference. Although there is something quite different in the feeling of painting with this...no pools of colors mixing. Or at least I haven't found that to be available. Tune in tomorrow!!

4 comments:

  1. Well I'm still lovin' it, even though I was scared about adding the opaques. Have you tried using real gouache instead of adding white to your watercolors. High quality gouache is made opaque by the way the pigments are ground rather than by adding white to them, so you can get very opaque flat darks.

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  2. I like the vivid colors and your composition; carry on!

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  3. Like them both, but the gouache is certainly more vibrant. Hope you are having fun at your workshop - and you certainly seem to be very involved in the art scene up there - how wonderful you have so many fellow painters you can get together with.

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  4. Ginny, Love the seagulls and I've worked in some gouache today in my journal. Do you suggest any kind of fixative for protection?

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