Kathyglennstudios
  • Home
  • Artist Statement and Bio
  • kmsGlenn blog
  • Daily Paintings
  • Gallery
  • TeddyRBoston Bags
  • Confident Color Class
  • Looking back
  • Daily Paintings
  • Confident Color Class

Gouache!!

12/1/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
Lets start with a pronunciation - gouache sounds like gwash rhyming with squash.   The name is Italian meaning "water paint".  Gouache appears to go back 800 years  and was used to illuminate manuscripts. European painters used it to sketch outdoors and it was used for magazine illustrations because of its fast drying properties.  It is now used in the film industry as well as by painters. It declined for a few years but is now seeing a resurgence in interest.  Perhaps by the introduction of contrasting opaque with transparent for emphasis.

Gouache, just as any other medium, can be used in different ways as the artist works differently and has different experiences with it.  Some of these artists are:  Erik Tiemens, Nathan Fowkes, Thomas Paquette and Marc Hansen.  These have websites and blogs that you might find helpful or inspiring.

It has unique properties unlike other watercolor paint.  It dries quickly both on the palette and the painting.  And the colors dry to a different value than when they were originally applied.  In general lights appear lighter and darks dry darker.  It dries in a matte, suede-like finish

It generally works best on a rigid surface.  This is a good area to explore and experiment as there are many new surfaces now being offered by manufacturers.  Each of these will have different results and texture when finished.  The entire painting can then be finished with varnish.

​
Using varnish is a matter for exploration as to the texture and result.  It will allow you to place the work in a frame with a glass pane.  Krylon Matte Finish spray appears to work well and provide protection without a glossy finish.  
Some artists appear to love this way of completing the painting and others range from simply not preferring it to completely opposing it.  You can experiment with some smaller works to see what works best for your style.

An artist who is doing quite a bit of experimentation with gesso is New Mexico artist, Deborah Secor.  She is most known for her pastels but has explored with small sizes of gouache paintings.  Her website is: ://www.deborahsecor-gouache.blogspot.com 
2 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    Kathy Glenn
    Art Center

    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    June 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

    Picture

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly