I may seem a little fickle, but I think I might be moving onto gouache. I’m still working with water-based paints, and if I ever want to integrate my watercolors into gouache, I can since they’re compatible. But maybe for now, I may be changing media for a bit.

The Dilemma

I was practicing painting grass in watercolor.

I don’t think I was doing too bad. Mostly, it was about practicing pulling the strokes that compose grass – you know, thin to thick to thin again. You gotta practice that movement of the hand with the brush.

After this sheet of practice, I came to a new one. The first practice painting I made, I intended to integrate gouache into it. At the time, I only had a tube of white.

I quickly discovered I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. I know watercolor and gouache are compatible, but something didn’t feel right to me. I wanted to practice opaque painting, even if this was watercolor, but I wasn’t getting the opacity I wanted even with the white gouache.

I got the feeling I might just need to buy some gouache paints.

Taking the Dive into Gouache

I have limited experience with gouache right now, and at the time I decided to get my paints, I had even less. But I was convinced that maybe I need to be able to go back and forth between negative painting and direct painting – negative painting being what you can only do with watercolor because of its transparent properties.

My gouache paints arrived and I’ve practiced a little bit with them. I’ve found that I like them.

I’ve practiced painting grass.

It’s rough right now, but I feel like I’m on the right track. I can paint opaquely like I want to. I just have to refine my approach, which I intent to do soon.