using guache

[catterpillar]

how the hell do you use guache!? I always seem to end up with a huge mess unless I put down two colours and blend them together while wet (which is really stressful!). does anyone know techniques that might help?

[Giottoface]

do you have a plastic pallette with the little divots for paint? or even a sheet of glass? i usually mix before i put it down, but mixing wet on the paper is a technique all in its own. i don't know if this helps or not...

[catterpillar]

yeah iv got a pallet. I'm starting to think i just need to practice. it's not an easy medium that's for sure.

[TomLuth]

It is a tricky medium. It has its own qualities, that make it diffeent from oils watercolors, and acyrlics, and handles differently. However, it can be thinned down to a watercolor consistency, and used in a similar manner, allowing for the fact that, even thinned, it is still somewhat opaque. Some people work in thsi manner, and then only add thicker, opaque details at the end. Others work with it slightly thinned, and fully opaque. There are several techniques. From my art school, Dick Oden and Jim Endicot were masters of this medium, and worked in layers, dark to light, and built successive layers with very fine crosshatching, much like a pen drawing. Another technique is to paint laying in mostly flat colors, then mixing inbetween tones to blend between. Artists who have mastered this technique (not me, sorry) can produce work that looks nearly airbrushed.

[egfx]

Ive never used it but today my teacher demoed how she uses it. You dab a pinch on a paint brush and dilued the brush with water or you can optionally dab it in soap before dabing it in the water. I forgot what effect this is supposed to produce but its significant. I guess you use guash to get a ultra highlight effect on areas with white pencil light sources.

[vfxart]

You may want to look at Holbein's Acryla gouache... it doesn't have the same issues of 'coming back to life' on you at inopportune moments. Also remember the key to gouache is to mix on the pallete before you get to the paper; you make all of the decisions about where forms turn and such, don't rely on accidents of the brushstroke.

[Sybaronde]

Originally posted by catterpillar
how the hell do you use guache!? I always seem to end up with a huge mess unless I put down two colours and blend them together while wet (which is really stressful!). does anyone know techniques that might help?

I feel you man. I've spent half a year using gouache now, and I feel like dinking the tubes :beer:

Which brings me to a qustion: Do you use tubes or do you have these 'tablet' boxes with colors in them? I've never used the box thingy, but I'm familiar with tubes.

Use a pallet, mix your colors before you paint (lots of work, but its the only way I'd endure). And if you have trouble mixing the white with other colors, buy a new one. The white color is notiriously evil, if you use 'Talens' gouache.

[el coro]

i use gouache pretty thinly. i dilute it to almost a milky or cream consistency. depending on the pigment, this mixture can be opaque or translucent. adding titanium white or a cadmium color helps ensure opacity. i apply it with small flat synthetic brushes. first i will apply the stroke, establish the direction, position, whatnot, then i will take a slightly wet brush and massage the applied paint where i want it, softening edges and whatnot. i strongly recommend using gouache without the acrylic binder n it, as this is not really true gouache, but more acrylic paint in my opinion. the biggest advantage to workingwith gouache is its reworkability. if you are suffering from previous layers coming up unwantedly, try a little krylon workable fixative, and you should be able to work back on top of it no problem. i use parimarily turner and holbein gouache. never the acryla paint.-c36

[Main Loop]

The best way ive came across with using gouache is to do all the color mixing on the pallette.. keep them thoroughly mixed (unless youre going for a marbley effect or something) and if they dry up on you, squeeze out some more.. the biggest mistake you can do is use water to "revive" gouache like u can with watercolor.. its better to use it as "straight from the tube" as possible..

master of the "watercolor" style:

http://www.artoutwest.com/chris_owen/images/drover.jpg

http://www.artoutwest.com/chris_owen/images/drover.jpg

master of the "oil" style

http://gallerydb.net/old/artists/nedmueller/art/large/harborworkhorse.JPG

http://gallerydb.net/old/artists/nedmueller/art/large/harborworkhorse.JPG

[catterpillar]

hmm I think my 'reeves' guache is a bit dodgy - anything that comes in a pack of about 20 tubes for $20 can't be good quality. do you guys reckon it's really worth buying a few proper guache tubes?

[jwo]

so i went to Pearl, picked up a big fat tube of white. then checked out the Holbein 15ml's...over 11 bucks just for the colbalt blue, i then proceeded to flip the whole isle of gouache "the bird". did my business and ran to the car before the thoughts of shoplifting crept in.
uber disgusted

[Elwell]

Sounds about right to me. Cobalts are among the most expensive pigments. You could have gotten by with ultramarine light for about half that.

[Main Loop]

Originally posted by jwo
so i went to Pearl, picked up a big fat tube of white. then checked out the Holbein 15ml's...over 11 bucks just for the colbalt blue, i then proceeded to flip the whole isle of gouache "the bird". did my business and ran to the car before the thoughts of shoplifting crept in.
uber disgusted

how much did you expect to pay for it? that sounds about right for that color..

[TerryB]

I found your discussion while searching for information on guache.

I'm studing Victorian art work used to make magic-lantern shows--the combination of projected illustrations, live drama, and live music that the movies came from.

The images I'm interested in are monochrome, watercolor I think, on gray paper, with highlights added in white. (Later they were photographed, transferred to an emulsion on glass, hand tinted, and then projected. Here's an example of me projecting a finished color image in a show.)
http://www.magiclanternshows.com

Guache, I take it, is an opaque medium, somewhat like water color. Is "China White" a type of white quache? I've read elsewhere that "China white" is what was used to create these highlights, and the highlights are definitely a different medium from the overall paintings. Having the highlights pure white was important in this case because white would photograph as "clear" and let the light through when projected, making very bring "highlights."

Thanks for any help or comments.
Terry

[dbclemons]

China white is not gouache, but they can serve the same purpose to some degree (opaque watercolor.) China white is white watercolor with china clay (kaolin) mixed in to make it thicker.