Color Studies With Gouache

Well, the package I've been so antsy about finally came in the mail. The new gouache paints are here!  Getting a goodie in the mail is always exciting, but one with art supplies is the best.  I've had just a little bit of time to spend in the studio today, so decided I'd play with the paints a bit and begin to see what their properties are.  I have to say I am amazed at their versatility.  These seem to be watercolors on steroids.

New tubes of paint! The possibilities..

Billed as opaque and transparent, they certainly live up to that promise.  As I put the paints on the (hot pressed) paper undiluted, they were bright and intense.  Adding a bit of clean water and washing the pigment down the page makes them go from mostly opaque, to translucent and then very transparent, although the earthy colors are sedimentary.  That is not a bad thing, just a property of the burnt sienna and burnt umber.

I took my large travel watercolor palette and washed it out-, ready for the new paints.

The surprising part was when I added white to the colors.  They are very opaque with it added. The pigment is strong enough in each color that the white doesn't weaken their hue, it just makes the paints totally opaque.  When I've added white gouache to regular transparent watercolor before, it has always just made them cloudy.  The idea that I can use these paints in a painting widens the possibilities considerably.  Of course, that might be a bad thing as I like working within limits.  We will see.

Clockwise from the lower left: Black, Prussian blue, Pthalo Blue, Cerulean Blue, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Quinacridone Rose, Cadmium Red, Raw Sienna, Gamboge, Hansa Yellow and White.

The brand I bought was M. Graham.  I've wanted to try their products for years, but have always stuck with colors I knew about.  The M. Graham paints are quite smooth and lay down without streaking.  I'm impressed.  Mixed with honey as part of their binder, they tempt me to just take a teeny taste, but I won't eat my paint.  I think.

The colors as I played with them.  On the left, top and bottom, are 11 pure colors, but on the bottom row, the last four are with white added.  The secondary colors are with and without white added.  

All things considered, these are very exciting to contemplate.  Coming at this medium as a watercolorist will probably influence the way I approach them compared to, say, how a dedicated oil painter would.  I will have to learn to think dark first then add the lights instead of the way I usually work.  I hope I can sleep tonight.  My mind is swirling with the excitement of all the possibilities.

Thanks for stopping by! Alice