Gouache is a beautiful medium and I’m so excited to see it regain popularity over the past few years. I’ve been painting with gouache regularly since around 2017. The portability and ease of cleaning was what drew me to it initially, but the bright, pure colors and versatility is what has kept me around.

My process varies depending on the subject and my mood, but for the most part I stick with a sketch, followed by a very loose and very watered down blocking in process. Then I establish the darkest darks and lightest lights, and work toward the middle values. It’s important to keep the darks and lights separate, as it’s easy to muddy the colors since the paint can be reactivated. Reactivation means that a dried pigment can be made reworkable once rewet. This is both what people celebrate and also find challenging about gouache – it’s so easy to clean away, yet it can be difficult if you’re trying to paint layers on top of existing layers.

It’s a breeze to photograph your work in gouache because of the matte finish, but it should still be framed behind glass, unless you like the look of a varnished or waxed surface. For those who are new to working with gouache, here are a few tips:

• Use high quality paper – I love the texture of cold press, but you should also experiment with smoother hot press to find what you enjoy most.
• Be patient – One of the most common mistakes I see is not letting the layers underneath dry enough before working on top. Unless you want a wet-on-wet look, you need to step away for a few minutes to let it dry.
• Spray your palettes – I keep a water mister bottle handy at all times and make sure to constantly give my palette a good misting to keep the paints with a wet consistency.
• Don’t skimp – Nothing is to be gained if you’re stingy with your paint, putting tiny little drops onto your palette. Fill those wells up and use the paint liberally! If you use very watered down gouache, it will just look like regular watercolor and you lose what makes gouache special.
• Make mistakes – I purposely do demos without much planning, so that if mistakes happen, people can watch in real time how I would fix them. Mistakes are normal – learning how to fix them is the important part.

I must confess, gouache isn’t the only medium I love. I use oil paints as well and find them to be a great companion to gouache. People often ask which is my favorite, and I genuinely can’t say. They both have their upsides and downsides. Gouache tends to be faster to work with, and offers lighter and brighter colors. It’s good for floral scenes and subjects with a lot of detail. Very dark colors can be difficult to achieve with gouache due to the matte finish. Oils tend to be much richer – you can get a smoother gradient, and push the paint around more. I suggest playing and experimenting as much as possible to figure out what is best for you. Happy Painting!