Saturday, May 9, 2009

New Gouache Paintings

Cat in Gouache
Photo ref courtesy of Mendocino Animal Care
Painting copyright to Jan Gibson

Giraffe in Gouache
copyright
Jan Gibson


I'm still working on learning to paint with gouache and sometimes it seems to go well and sometimes it doesn't. Sounds a bit like life, doesn't it? lol

The cat on top was painted as if I were painting in acrylics using many layers and some brushes I bought that have jaggedy bristles and are supposed to be good for painting fur. They really are pretty good for that but it takes going over an area over and over using first one color then another until you get a fairly realistic fur pattern.

The giraffe was painted using more watercolor technique and I find I'm more comfortable with that method. Of course, that may just be because I've never really worked in acrylics that much and watercolor is much more familiar to me.

But no matter which method I use, I'm finding that I do like the gouache. I'm not so sure that I bought the best brand as I don't get that great a coverage when using lights over darks. It's not the bleed-through (I don't think anyway), but it just seems that the lighter colors and the white in particular are just more transparent than I thought they'd be.

Still learning so stay tuned as I find out more about them!

6 comments:

Christine Perry | Graphite Art said...

Very nice paintings Jan! I especially like the cat. I am getting more and more intriqued and want to try quache after seeing your results.

readingsully2 said...

Oh my gosh, Jan. They are fabulous paintings. :)

Jeanette Jobson said...

These are both lovely Jan. You've conquered gouache I think. I've never tried it personally, but you make it look easy.

Jan said...

Thanks everyone. Christine, you should try gouache. It's not as intimidating as watercolors since you can cover up a mistake. I do like the look of transparent watercolors better but it's still a fun medium.

Thank you so much, Carole! You have made my struggle with learning this medium worthwhile!

And thanks to you too, Jeanette. I don't think I've conquered gouache at all, and while it's not exactly easy, it is less stressful than watercolor. It is a medium where I want to learn as much as I can though.

twincedar said...

These are great, Jan! You do very well with new mediums.

Jan said...

Thank you, Lori!