Most of us are used to treating gouache with a little disdain. It is believed that this material is suitable only for decoration and children's creativity, and it cannot be considered as a serious material for painting.

Knights in gouache

However, in the Middle Ages, in Europe, this material was widely used in writing miniatures, and not only for preparatory sketch work. In Russia, at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, serious works of easel painting were painted with gouache. It was during this period that gouache flourished.

Artists who have mastered this "frivolous" material to perfection create wonderful, graceful, uniquely velvety works. Especially wonderful, with the help of gouache, it is possible to convey the unique atmosphere of evening twilight and foggy predawn landscapes.
Basically, gouache is an opaque watercolor. To work with gouache, there is no need for special thinners and drying accelerators, as when working with oil. When painting with gouache, there is no need to think about various aids (for example, drying retardants, modeling pastes, varnishes, etc.). Gouache is a versatile artistic material that allows you to master artistic techniques inherent in other materials with paints, water and paper. You can paint with highly diluted gouache using the watercolor technique, or you can master the writing techniques of noble oil. Drawing with gouache is comfortable, it does not have an unpleasant odor, does not require working with solvents, makes it easy to make changes to the drawing and does not require any special surface for drawing (canvases, primers, etc.). That is why it is very popular in children's art and is widely used by novice artists. The landscape was painted in gouache by each of us. Gouache for beginners is also suitable for the pros.

squirrel gouache

There are several types of gouache: art, poster, acrylic and for children's creativity.

Types of gouache.

. Artistic gouache- these are crushed pigments, with the addition of distilled water, white and gum arabic. This gouache has excellent hiding power, matte, velvety and fits perfectly on the artistic surface. For this type of paint, uncoated cardboard, watercolor paper, tinted paper are ideal as a work surface. The first coat of paint is absorbed into the artistic surface, creating something like a primer. This allows the paint to adhere better to the work surface.
. Poster gouache is an ordinary gouache, with the only exception that kaolin is used instead of white. This makes the paint brighter and more dense.
. Gouache for children's creativity contains cheap PVA glue instead of expensive gum arabic. This makes the paint less plastic and dries faster. However, this makes it more resistant to shattering and abrasion. This paint is suitable not only for paper, but also for plywood, ceramics and canvas, which does not need to be primed with a special primer (as is the case with artistic gouache). PVA in gouache becomes an excellent fixer and successfully replaces special primer. Children's gouache drawings delight the eyes and hearts of parents.
... Some manufacturers, with the advent of artistic acrylic, began to produce acrylic gouache. This gouache is suitable for painting on any surface, and after complete drying it is not washed off with water.

Fairy dragon castle in gouache

Gouache properties and color features.

Many people think that gouache is not convenient for drawing. If you have painted mainly with watercolors before, then you need to remember just a few rules in order to get the same wonderful result when working with gouache.

Gouache paint is not transparent and contains whitewash. This means writing from dark to light, not vice versa. That is, having decided on the composition and color scheme, you need to start with darker tones of paint, and light reflections and dark color accents are placed at the end of the work.

In order not to get confused about the possibility of mixing colors and shades, and also not to mess with the color for the shadows, it is better to have an idea of ​​the color wheel that artists use. The colors lying in the adjacent sectors of the circle are mixed with each other without the formation of dirt, and for the shadows it is better to take the color from the opposite sector. This color is added in the required amount to the main tone. More often, for the image of the shadow, they take: blue, green or purple. In no case should you add black to the shadow image. Also, you cannot use black to obtain a darker tone of the same color, you will not darken the tone, but you will get dirt.

Among other things, you should know that gouache dries quickly enough. If you make a mistake, then you cannot correct it until the gouache is dry. Breaking this rule will result in a smudged, dirty stain. You need to make changes and corrections to the drawing until the gouache layer has completely dried. Drying time usually depends on the thickness of the gouache layer, it varies from 30 minutes to 3 hours. When the gouache is dry, it is very easy to make changes. You just need to moisten the brush in warm and clear of pigment water, squeeze it slightly with a dry cloth and wipe off the paint in the place of the mistake with a light movement. In the same way, you can shade an overly clear outline of a drawn object.

When mixing colors, you need to take into account that wet gouache is brighter. When it dries, it bleaches due to the presence of chalk in it. Therefore, colors should always be chosen more saturated than those that you want to see in the final work.

horse gouache

Gouache brushes and brush strokes.

The correct choice of brush will also help to facilitate familiarity with this art material. Since gouache is heavier and more viscous, overly soft brushes are not suitable for it, so it is better to put a light squirrel aside. Well suited for wet gouache: columns, goat and synthetics. These brushes are great for feathers, backgrounds and fills, that is, for working with a wet brush.

There are painting techniques that are suitable for dry brushing. How to paint in gouache images of tree crowns, grassy backgrounds, objects with an uneven or textured surface? In this case, it is better to use bristle brushes. The shape of the brushes will depend on the shape of the brush strokes. It is better to depict the grass with flat brushes, and the crown of the trees with round ones. In this case, gouache diluted to a thickened sour cream is taken on a dry pork bristle brush and point blows are made with the brush on the working surface of the painting. It can be compared to sprinkling paint onto a work surface.

How to paint with gouache not only with brushes. You can apply paint with a foam sponge, special rollers or a crumpled paper towel. All this allows you to depict objects with a complex surface structure and achieve a realistic image of many materials, for example, rough ceramics or stone, or painting a still life with gouache.

still life in gouache

Painting techniques using gouache. Gouache lessons.

There are two ways to create a gouache background:
... Shading the contours of the pencil sketch evenly. First, the artist makes a pencil sketch on the art surface, and then spreads the primary colors as fills for the contours of the drawing. It is important to remember here that for the initial underpainting, the darkest tones of the elements of the picture are taken. In order for the gouache to lay flat and without streaks, you need to pay attention to the size of the brush. The larger the contour to paint, the larger the brush should be. Gouache, in this case, should be diluted to the consistency of thin sour cream. Too much pigment on the brush is also not worth it, it is better to wipe the excess on the edge of the palette. You need to fill the contour without pressure, from one edge to the center, and then from the center to the other edge of the contour. This type of underpainting is not suitable for large surfaces.
... For large surfaces, another type of staining is selected - fill. In this case, the background of the picture is first made, and then, on the dried background, the work itself is written. The background can consist of two or three basic colors in the range of the picture. For example, when painting a landscape, take: the color of the sky, the color of the earth, the color for the light strip above the horizon. The sheet of paper is well attached to the tablet, it is better to glue all the edges with masking tape. Then the colors are spread: the color of the sky at the top, the color of the earth at the bottom, the lightest in the region of the horizon. And then, until the paint is dry, smooth the paint with a wide, damp brush. The brush must be carried out without interruption, from one left edge of the sheet to the right, moving from the bottom of the work to the top. Then we wet the brush in water, shake off the excess, and smooth the paint from the top of the sheet to the bottom, moving the brush horizontally. In order for the background to turn out smooth and beautiful, training is needed. However, the result is worth the effort. When the background is smoothed out and the paint has not yet dried, the details of the hills are spread out with the darker paint chosen for the ground. After the main background and the formed details of the landscape have dried out, vegetation, clouds and other details of the conceived composition are painted.

flower gouache

Gouache paintings. Gouache painting techniques include:
. Glaze- a method that consists in applying transparent layers of other tones over the main color. By overlapping the base color with translucent layers, a new deep shade is obtained. For gouache, this method is available in the same way as for watercolor. It is just that the gouache needs to be diluted quite strongly with water to make it transparent. Using the glaze technique, you can create a unique fog effect; gouache is perfect for this.
. Paste technique gouache is also available. This technique involves applying a thick, opaque paint to the work surface. This technique is inherent mainly in oil painting. The texture, light and shadow in the paintings painted in the pasty technique depend not only on the color, but also on the shape and direction of the strokes. Gouache can also work in this style, especially if it is based on PVA or acrylic. Working in a pasty technique and using the usual artistic gouache, you need to remember that too thick a layer of this paint tends to crack and crumble after drying. Therefore, you need to very carefully add layers of thick gouache to the canvas in order to get the "golden mean" necessary for this technique and material.
... There is another technique in which you can use gouache. It is called sgraffito... This technique is akin to engraving. A layer of light paint is applied to the paper and wait for it to dry. Then a thick, uniform layer of dark paint is applied. After the top layer has dried, take a drawing pen, stylus, just a thick needle or a stationery knife, and paint with them, removing the dark layer of paint from the lower light layer. It is best to keep the top coat dry, but fresh enough so that the paint will not peel off. You need to act carefully, the movements must be accurate.
... In addition, gouache is excellently used in mixed painting techniques. For example, the background is done in gouache, and the drawing on the background is acrylic. Flowers with gouache and acrylics are very effective.

sketch of a girl in gouache

Caring for the instrument when working with gouache.

It is necessary to remember about the property of gouache to clog the pile of soft brushes, so it is better to rinse brushes immediately in a jar with plenty of warm water. To do this, rinse the brush thoroughly by running the pile along the bottom of the container with water.

After finishing work with gouache, you need to rinse the brushes under a stream of warm running water. You also need to wash palettes with paint residues, since dried gouache can paint over the palette, especially if it is plastic. Gouache dries very quickly, so all paint cans should be tightly closed. If you leave unclosed cans of paint after work, then you risk finding there, instead of soft, plastic gouache, fossilized pieces of dried pigment.

In addition, you need to monitor the condition of your paints. Gouache tends to thicken over time, even if you remember to cover it. This property of this material can lead to its complete drying. You can restore the original quality of the drying material by dropping half a teaspoon of hot boiled water into the paint (this is on a standard small jar). Then the gouache must be closed and left for 30 minutes, after which it must be thoroughly mixed with a stick or the opposite end of the brush.

If your gouache has dried up to the state of a stone, then you can try to revive it, but this does not always work out. To do this, pour a little hot water into each jar, so that only a couple of millimeters cover the surface of the dried paint, and then put it in a warm place for three hours. In winter, a battery is suitable for this, and in summer a sunny windowsill. Then you need to mix the pigment thoroughly. If you still have dried pieces, you can try repeating the above procedure. If this does not help, then everything is over with your paint and can only be thrown away. True, it can be used as a dry watercolor for sketches and rough sketches. It is impossible to revive dried acrylic gouache; it turns into an insoluble, hard polymer.

I wish you creative success in your work with gouache!