52 Weeks of Art: Week 6

Week 6: Gouache

Welcome to week 6 of 52 weeks of art! What are we doing this week?

     Gouache! What is it? How do you say it? Goo-ake? Gowch? Gohsh? Wrong. Wrong. And Wrong. It's Gwahsh. Languages, right? I don't even pretend to understand how that one works. My Little One kept calling it goulash, though. We all had a good laugh about that. Except the Little One. She was not amused. Goulash isn't something you can paint with, but it is a tasty food you can eat - maybe while painting with some gouache.
     So, what is gouache? The Oldest and I decided it was a lot like watercolors and acrylics got together and made a little paint baby. That paint baby is gouache. It can be watered down and used like watercolors, but it can also be used without watering it down for a more opaque look. It's an interesting paint, that's for sure. It dries VERY matte, no shine to it whatsoever. Also, the light colors dry darker and the darker colors dry lighter. Very frustrating if you don't know this ahead of time. So, keep that in mind if you decide to try out gouache!
     Now, I did not have gouache before I started. Well, okay, I had blue, yellow, red, purple, and white. So, I guess I really could have made any color I wanted. I just didn't want to make ALL my own colors. So, off to the internet! Amazon, here I come! I love Amazon. You really can buy anything there. And the shipping! I ordered these and got them the next day. Awesome. Also, it was such a good deal. I got 60 colors that ended up costing about $0.59 each!

Gouache set I bought here on Amazon

     Since gouache is similar to watercolor and acrylic I decided to test it out on some sample papers to see which type of paper I liked the best. I went with the cold press watercolor, hot press watercolor, and hot press illustration board again. You know, what I had on hand.

Left to right: cold press, hot press, illustration board.

        The Little One and Sassy, my niece, helped me decide which paper to use. We all had a fun time painting. Both the Little One and Sassy liked the illustration board the best. I liked the hot press watercolor paper. Our least favorite was the cold press. I think that if I had used it more like watercolor and less like acrylic then I would have liked the cold press better. However, I hardly watered it down at all. So, hot press paper for me!

   

All set up and ready to paint!

      Did you notice my little paint brush stand?

Look at that quality detail!

Pretty awesome, right?

     I made that. You're just a little bit jealous right now, aren't you? I get it. It's pretty awesome. I used some wire from our wire making week and bent it all into shape. I like it. I think it turned out pretty great. It was also super simple to make if you want to make your own.

And on to the actual painting...

Ta-da!

Here's a close up!

     In case you can't tell, it's a peacock feather! I don't know if you can really tell from the photo, but the inside of the feather dried darker than the outside of the feather. Remember that whole thing about the paint drying into a different shade? Yeah, so that happened. I still think it turned out alright.

Bonus picture!

The Little One's painting!

     This is the painting the Little One did. She's not going to be happy that I shared this one here, but I absolutely love this little painting of hers!

On to rating gouache...

     Just a reminder on the criteria for rating each medium.

Ease of use: How easy was this medium to use.

Affordability: How affordable supplies are for each medium.

Accessibility: How easily accessible supplies are for each medium. Example, are specific tools required that are hard to find?

Fun to Use: How much enjoyment I got out of using this medium

     So, for gouache my rating is: 18

Ease of use: 5

    So very easy to use! Even though it's the lovechild of watercolor and acrylic, the dry time is much quicker than watercolor. I did not have to wait long between each layer. Phew. I'm not a very patient person. The paint was smooth and I could have just painted with it all day. 

Affordability: 3

     This is another one of those you have to buy it to use it mediums. It's not as popular as watercolor or acrylics, so not as easy to find in local craft stores. Local art supply stores, though? Oh yeah, no problems there. You know where else you can get it? The internet. I bought 60 colors for $35ish. At $0.59 a color, I'd say that's pretty affordable. You also don't have to buy an entire set of colors. There really are lots to choose from. High end all the way down to the cheap stuff. The paper I think is where most of the cost will be. Paper can be more pricey if you get the good stuff. If you're just trying this out, you could even just paint on some cardstock and you'd be just fine.

Accessibility: 5

     You can get paper and brushes from any arts and crafts stores. Gouache isn't as popular as other paints, so finding it at a craft store will be more difficult. An art supply store will have it. So will the internet.

Fun to Use: 5

     I loved this. The paint was just so smooth to work with. The colors were beautiful. I will definitely be painting with gouache again in the future!

     If you would like to go on this epic art adventure with me, next week we will be doing...

     If you choose to follow along, please post your work using #52weekartadventure!