Plein air gouache landscape painting of sheds at an Italian Monastery.
Plein air gouache painting 6.25 inches x 9.55 inches $150
This painting is another experiment with gouache, an opaque watercolor medium, on Yupo paper. I brought a small set of gouache paints with me when I went to Umbria last year, but only did a few paintings of Italy with them. This little scene is in the back of the monastery where we made our home base.
Plein air gouache painting of summer flower pots on a deck.
Plein air gouache painting 7 inches x 9.5 inches
This summer I continued to play with a new medium: gouache. To me, it feels like a cross between watercolor and acrylic. You can paint thinly and create nice washes AND you can paint opaquely and cover previous strokes. (this intrigues me because I am constantly tossing watercolor paintings that I can’t fix.) Its taking me a while to get the hang of it so I thought I’d post some of my attempts from time to time. This floral painting view is right outside our back door on our deck.
Gouache landscape painting of a barn along a road in winter
Gouache painting 8 inches x 6 inches
Continuing to play with gouache. This barn is just down the road from our house and every time I drive by I think of what a nice landscape painting scene it is. I painted it once in pastel and gave it to the owners, who also do a lot of landscaping work for us. Loving the ability to use opaque paints and layer the colors. Feels almost like acrylics but with a touch of watercolor’s looseness.
Gouache landscape painting of a fence in front of an old bungalow house.
Gouache painting 6 inches x 6 inches
I’m burning out a bit on pastel paintings of Italy, so I thought I’d give myself a new challenge. I’ve been meaning to explore gouache and for some reason, I never get around to it. This medium entices me because it is similar to watercolor, but much more forgiving because it can be applied opaquely. That means mistakes can be revised instead of thrown in the trash. I’m also hoping it might help me to loosen up a bit.
I started with this small landscape painting (or architecture painting depending on how you view the subject matter.) This little bungalow is right next door to my brother-in-laws house and I’ve always loved the way the light hits it in late afternoon. I only let myself use large brushes to cut down on fussing with details. I think it’s a good start…
Plein air gouache landscape painting of an approaching storm over the ocean in Florida.
Gouache painting 6 inches x 9 inches $100
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.
Although we had wonderful weather on our trip, one day a huge storm moved in toward our island. I sat on our deck and tried to get the feel of the turmoil in a gouache seascape. It was dramatic for a while, but luckily the storm only created a short, refreshing rainfall. Since gouache is opaque, I was able to overpaint the waves in white to highlight the gazebo on the shore.
Gouache plein air painting of a sunlit birch tree.
Gouache painting 4 inches x 6 inches $80
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.
I have been experimenting with another watercolor painting medium called gouache. It is similar to watercolor in that it contains a pigment suspended in water, but it is more concentrated and opaque. You can even layer white or pastel colors to highlight and create a thicker texture. In watercolor, it is necessary to leave the white of the paper showing through to create a highlighted area. I find that gouache is a kind of cross between acrylic and watercolor.
I painted this landscape painting in our back yard. When I saw the light hitting the tree limbs against the dark pines in back, I thought it would make an interesting composition. I didn’t really use the qualities of qouache for this piece–its more like a traditional watercolor painting. But stay tuned. I have plans to take this new medium on our next trip and explore it more fully.
