I want to emphasize the fact that certain colors don’t rewet as easily as others. So unless you compare every single color in every single brand, the brand comparison isn’t completely fair. BUT, these are my observations of my colors in the palette. Read my blog post for more insights.
Hi. Thank you for this. You said (I think) that you would include a link or address to your blog in the comments. I’ll look again but I don’t think I saw anything about it here.
Sarah, I live in damp and moldy Florida. I always add a couple of drops of rubbing alcohol to my spray bottle water. I use this on watercolor, gouache, and acrylics and have never had a mold problem. Love your site and work. Thank you for all you do!
I’m thinking about adding a limited pallet of gouache to my painting journey . I live in the SE Texas & like Florida it is humid almost every day of the year. What gouache do you feel works best in humid climates. I’m so glad Sarah is here to bring us together with posts like this one.
@@TheNeedleneuk Hi Mary, I use Winsor & Newton Designer's colors (had the complete set in a plastic box stored for well over 25 years and they are still perfect!), but any artist quality gouache should work.
ayy fellow Floridian! For me I use dried gouache, just spray and use. I've tried alcohol, clove oil (not the bud one), I still got mold. my method for years is to spray the gouache, close the lid let it sit, and then use it.
Ok. You have totally inspired me to try a “couch palette” I need something smaller and more compact than my standard palette because I often don’t do quick gouche sketches because of the palette set up and space I feel I need. I know I know unacceptable excuse but it just never occurred to me to try a dry/small palette. I’ll maybe need to do a couple!
when I initially poor them, I put a 1-3 drops of vegetable glycerin depending on the viscosity of the paint straight out of the tube. Then I tap any air bubbles out after mixing, and try to make sure the paint touches every corner of the its pan. After that, I check the paint each day to see when it gets to a putty texture, and when that happens, I push it down with my thumb so that it's in every nook of the pan. I keep doing that until all of the paint is dry and usually there shouldn't be any cracks, sometimes there still is, I noticed W&N doesn't crack as often as other brands, but Holbein still rewets really nicely. From that point, if there are any cracks, it's usually either surface level and not very deep, or one deep one, which i've noticed with Arteza, and I haven't had any colors fall out of my palette.
I love having a dried gouache palette always handy. For me, I don't like to waste an ounce of paper drives me nuts. It's an OCD thing. So I will do a study using the dry palette on my beautiful large piece of paper (watercolor blocks are great for this) because I can sketch quickly with it. I can take it back into the studio with a reference photo and finish the painting with my wet palette. I like to use the blending medium sometimes instead of water. If I put the blending medium down on the paper as if I'm using water for watercolor I can then blend my paint on the paper and it works almost like an oil. It's really cool. Give it a shot. I get some really great effects that way. It's a trick playing with amounts. You really don't need very much.
I’ve been using a mix of watercolor and dried gouache for a few months and I absolutely love it. It seems to almost function like oil paint at that point where you can do layer upon layer and build up to the final look! I can’t wait to see more of what you do with your dried gouache
Here’s another I’ve tried with good success. Mixing the paint, 1/2 watercolor with 1/2 gouache with the same color or close cousin. It worked great. It worked for me when I couldn’t find Anthraquanone Blue in gouache. So I mixed my Daniel Smith AB with Ultramarine Blue gouache. It’s perfect.
This was such a great video. I've personally not enjoyed using reactivated gouache and much prefer to use straight from the tube, but it's still good to know what the real differences are and how to make reactivated gouache work as well as possible. Thanks again for all your gouachtigations, Sarah.
It's so intriguing that M. Graham gouache dries the fastest! I have M. Graham watercolors that haven't dried in *years*. I have to keep those palettes flat or they will run into other wells 😅 Thanks for all your work on these videos! I'm really enjoying the series.
I tested their Azo yellow and Naphthol red too and they didn’t dry as fast. But unfortunately I only have their primary mixing set because they aren’t easily available here. I wish they included some less “dry” pigments in their primary set if you know what I mean 😅 but I really love them in liquid form so I am happy to keep using them that way! (Yes I know what you mean about their watercolours, I have a couple and they never dry!)
@@SarahBurnsStudio I have also only tried the primary set from MG and have found the same (should have mentioned that!). I've been on the fence about trying some different pigments as well. If I get around to it, I'll report back!
@@InLiquidColor I'm tempted to pick up a bigger set of them next time I visit family in the USA. Until then I have plenty of other options to keep me occupied! On a separate note - I've been binging your daniel smith videos (again) because I'm currently in the process of moving to a fully DS watercolor palette. Your videos are a goldmine of information! Thank you for all of your effort over the years!
I prefer to plein air pain with dried gouache. Last year I bought the square box with a seal like you have (it also came with a silicone collapsible cup and strap. I couldn't resist. What a mess😅 it was not for me. I also bought the jerry q swivel palette that takes 18 half pans. I do half watercolor and half gouache. I used John Muir Laws tip to compress the paint as it dries so it dosn't crack. I use waterbrushes with it and its awesome. I have m graham and Lukas gouache in it and random watercolors. Love your experiments and reviews! ❤
Do you mean you combine 50%/50% watercolor and gouache in one well? Or just put them in different wells but the palette is split 50/50? That’s interesting!
@@jeanettefamulari3538 I was curious about this too and had a look at his gouache video - he presses down on the gouache with his finger as it dries to avoid crumbling: th-cam.com/video/Y6xWMHpTRoE/w-d-xo.html (go to 37:13)
I do like the look of the lpaint saver palette but I make such a mess when I fill my watercolour pans that I can't think what sort of a state I, and the palette, would be in by the time I'd finished!
This video is so helpful! I have been wanting to give a dried gouache palette a try, but was worried I’d be wasting my gouache because it would lose its gouache properties. I’m a huge fan of having my colours available to me in palette form so I don’t have to waste time getting tubes out, choosing colours, trying to figure out whether to use my stay-wet palette, or something else… all of those little steps can use up 15-20 minutes of my time and sometimes I only have 30 minutes total available to me! If it’s all “good to go” in a palette and I don’t have the added decisions, I can just relax and paint. (Hence watercolour is much easier for me on a weeknight, but I leave gouache for weekends). Now to decide which palette (and colours) I might like to setup for a dried gouache experiment of my own. Anxious to read other comments from people who have done this already 😊. Am wondering if I should buy blending medium before I get started…
That's why I love having my 'couch palette' ready to go, it makes it super easy to spend 5-10 minutes sketching before dinner, or between a show..just very casual easy setup. My Micro palette doesn't dry as fast because of my 'modifications' but it eventually does dry if I don't touch it. I'm sure if I left it alone for months it would be very dry. But if you're looking for a solution that might be something to try. Even just keeping it wrapped in a cloth or pencil pouch would slow drying time.
Okay I am feeling better about my whole gouache experience now after watching this video. I live in a hot 🥵 humid climate where both my gouache & watercolors dry so quickly when using them straight from the tubes that when I have leftover gouache I was using it from pans after they dried out some. I hated wasting any paint & decided it would be fine with me to still use it afterwards with rewetting them. Thanks for sharing this informational video with us & giving me the knowledge that I am doing fine with how I am using my gouache paints even with them a bit dry. 💕😊
When you let gouache dry, the water evaporates out. When you reactivate it - replenishing the water will not by default reduce opacity. People often VERY MUCH underestimate the power of reactivation - you need more water than you think, and need to let it set up longer than you think. And then the opacity is fine. (: It's a balance, but once you get the hang of it, it's great! Nature journaling is where I see dried gouache be deployed most frequently and the results are lovely.
That’s the key - the patience required to let the water soak in deep enough. If you dont want long enough the top layer has too much water and is more transparent.
@@SarahBurnsStudio you know, when you say it that way........... ... it totally makes sense that I see it most often with nature journaling. Since that very often involves 1 people with patience, and 2 earth tones, which tend to rewet pretty well (and in some brands seem to dry a little quicker too!). OOOHH~ yes, that actually. That makes a *lot* of sense. Don't mind me, just having a moment and connecting some dots.. 🤣🤣
I love using gouache this way. Mine (Arteza) have been in a palette for 3 months now and they still perform great. A tip I heard was to add a drop of clove oil to each pan to prevent mold, and that is working too. I don't let them dry out completely, as I'm using them every week and giving them a spray each time, so they stay sort of semi-tacky rather than going completely solid.
Oh and I'm not saying you 'can't' use Arteza for this - just that I wouldn't. I have a lot of other gouache that performs great dried, so I don't need to 😀
@@SarahBurnsStudio Yes! I prefer gouache palettes but for arteza (which i use in my sketchbook and bullet journal) I literally have to keep it in a tube. For me, it seems it takes so much water to reconstitute, it's basically watercolor afterwards. It doesn't suck, its just transparent. I've heard lindsay the frugal crafter say she would rather use arteza gouache as watercolor than their watercolor..so it might be good that way 🤔
Hi Sarah. Jim from Madrid - Spain again (a NY expat happily living here!). You know I've been a fan of yours, specially for Gouache. So you know, I've spent my professional life as a Strategic and Biz Consultant, now in early retirement due to health issues. Why am I sharing this with you? (It's my first and only time)... 1- Art has and is helping me in my own struggles (in a positive way!). 2- I started into painting thanks to you and your love for Gouache. 3- I am in love now with both, watercolor and Gouache. I am sending this message to you because I strongly believe you have acknowledged a BIG niche area not covered so far (similar to Dr. Oto Kano in watercolor, if you know what I mean), and it has a great potential to become a good niche biz project for Gouache too, but with it's own differences in types of paint by brand, as well as maintenance (dry-wet), by type if colour/pigment, etc... (I'm not an expert but I do share your passion). So, as an idea (thinking-out-of-the-box, as I would for any business propossition) a Database and "much more" can become a healthy and good business for GOUACHE. I can't be involved in this idea due to my circumstances but I am sharing it with you directly (and I've only explained to you briefly) in this message. Even a Joint Venture (JV) with O. K. might be interesting since you're both neighbours in Scotland. Please let me know if I can be if any more help by answering this post and I can contact you in private if you let me know how. Again... I'm just offering some help with no stake in anything at all (I really can't right now, honestly - health issues) but I don't mind helping if I can for something as beautiful as this (Art, painting, Gouache and Watercolor). And in any case... please don't stop investigating (R&D) because it us extremely helpful to many, many, many people world wide that use Gouache!!! Cheers from Madrid and I will continue to watch your videos and, THANK YOU for sharing your talent and your ideas and information! Jim.
Sarah. I just wanted to quickly explain what I think might be a great business opportunity, but my wife just read my post and she has told me not to get involved due to my current health issues (sorry, it's my professional mind at play here). But I hope you can understand what I was trying to explain and it is not my intention at all to get involved into your business or anything. So sorry if I overstepped on anything. I hope to continue to learn from you and take my comments in good faith and honestly. Cheers from Madrid!
@@SarahBurnsStudio Just trying to help, I swear! Not trying anything wrong! Just giving ideas. And I don't want any part if it, for real!. I hope everything's awesome for YOU! And you have taught me a lot! So thank YOU!. Cheers from Madrid!
@@Makbabe72 Well... Madrid is a great and beautiful City within Spain. The City center is full of architecture from the "Austria's Kings" as well as many many other historical things to visit. Great weather after March until November (usually), that's of the reasons for the international typical saying... "In Spain, the rain, falls mainly... on the plane"! Check it out in the Internet... and Madrid people are very open and nice, but, of course, as in any major City (NY, London, Paris, etc.) Always beware... just in case. Hope you have a great trip! Cheers!
This is super comforting because I’ve had the idea that dried gouache was inferior stuck in my head but also I live in Australia and keeping a wet palette is too much maintenance for me.
I'm in Australia too and it was too much maintenance doing the wet palette, trying to avoid mould etc. I let mine dry out fully and rewet them when needed. Have seen other artists on youtube use dried gouache too, so it's definitely doable. I too had it stuck in my head for about a year that dried gouache was a no no, but for sketching, plein air etc it seems fine to me
Just to add my vote for dried gouache to the hive-mind collective... As a first experience with gouache, I purchased the Himi jelly gouache 24 color set in a year ago. I'm more of a dabbler than a serious artist, so I didn't want to invest a lot in a medium that I might not like or use. I put the colors in an 18-well plastic palette with a couple of 1/2 & full pans to equal 24. I like the paint and palette more than I thought I would! The paint dried in the palette within a week and most colors developed some cracks. I spritz the dried colors with water at least 10 minutes before using, or every so often, if they've been allowed to sit unused sometimes for weeks at a time. Nothing has molded, nor have the dried cracked paint crumbled or fallen out of their wells. I think they rewet beautifully. A titanium white gouache, my only M Graham, is always more difficult to rewet, but maybe that's a characteristic of the pigment and not the brand. Anyway, I just wanted to give a thumbs up for a dried gouache palette from my experience. I'd gladly do the same with artist quality paint, though I imagine every brand and pigment recipe could behave differently. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, experience, amazing artwork, and love of nature's beauty, Sarah!! Your work is so inspiring! Cheers everyone, Susan in S. Cal. - near the coast, & not super dry most of the time. 💚🎨
I remember,as a child I had a palet with very cheap dry paint in round tablets. This does remind me of working with that palet which I kept for years! Thank you for Al that hard work you have for our benefits🌹🤗❤️
Hey Sarah, my first dried palette with Winsor&Newton gouache was a crumbly desaster and some of the paints didn´t rewet at all once they were dried out completely (Primary Red I´m looking at YOU!). In the mean time, I bought a set of Royal Talens Extra Fine Gouache. Like you, I wasn´t too impressed by the stickiness of these paints fresh from the tube. But then I filled them in a palette and let them dry and wow - they behave so much better than my dried Winsor&Newton paints! Very little cracking, they seem to dry all in about the same time and they all rewet extremely well, even the notorious burnt umber. And the stickiness of the dextrin binder isn´t much of a problem with reactivated paints, as you´ll get a little bit more water into the paint anyways. So I prefer Winsor&Newton fresh from the tube, but in my plein air kit, the dried Royal Talens gouache is my favorite!
Hi, when I set up my quash pallet. I put in a couple of drops of honey in my colors. I do this for two reasons one honey isn’t natures anti-microbial agent. It prevent mold from forming. The second reason is that the honey keeps the wash from becoming crumbly when it dries rockhard and I read it and use it. I find that it was easier this way too.
Thank you for making such a thorough video on this! It's great to know that it's not the end of the world if one of my colors dries up in my palette 😅 Incredible video Sarah! 💛
I swear you are reading my mind on what video topics to pick. I wanted to try a dry gouache palette and you helped me so much with this video. Thank yo for what you do and I hope my gouache art skills develop to be like yours. Have a good one 😊👍
Thanks for your thorough work in these experiments. I gave up on gouache after university, but having a palette for plein air sketches might just get me interested in it again
What a great video! I love getting more tips on how to make gouache easier to handle. Here’s a couple of ideas I’ve used with success. Use the blending medium (or propylene glycol, same thing and cheaper) to make your whites stay creamy. Use a small plastic bottle with a twist-nozzle on the top. Mix your white with blending medium in the bottle. Lena Rivo says to use about 1 part medium to 4 parts paint I believe. Mix them up well, get another small jar/container of some sort and store the plastic bottle upside down in it. When you need some white, you can quickly and quickly squirt it out where you need it. I have two separate jars, one for titanium white and one for zinc white. Another tip: put some blending medium in a little holder by where you paint. Dip your brush in there when the paint gets hard to spread. Yet another tip: put out a blob of white paint on the palette; drizzle a little medium over the top of it. It will stay creamy sooo much longer. I have had no problems whatsoever with the medium making the paint thin or streaky. This works well for painting at home: get some little 1” x 1” plastic cups with pop on lids. Put your paint colors in, stir in some medium. I keep mine that way. I stored some for about 15 months only opening them twice and spritzing them with water. They are still perfect. There are “air-tight” palettes sold on Amazon that hold these perfectly, many different sizes. You can store the paints you’re using in one of these without the caps so they are easier to access. What I’m really interested in is hearing whether anyone has seen or tried the new Mijello Mission Class Titanium Gouache? NOT the previous one the White Class. I believe that has been phased out and this is the new formula. There is very little information out there that I’ve found. Heres what they say: it is designed to be stored in palettes. You can let them dry or use an air tight one. You can use it thin like watercolor or full strength as gouache and anywhere in between. They do not crack in the palette and do not crack if you paint on paper thickly. I got the set of 36 from Amazon for about $130, so less than $4 a 15ml tube. So far, they are everything they say and more. The creamiest, smoothest paint ever. Beautiful and bright. If I let them dry out, they can be rewet with the softest stroke of a damp brush, instantly. If I put a sta-wet sponge in the palette with them, they stay shiny and moist. I love this paint! But. Amazon was down to only two sets left, so I purchased a second set in case they never come back. Sarah, do you know anything about this paint? I wonder whether more is coming and whether they will become available open stock.
Love your gouache videos.. Bernard Dellario uses a very dried gouache for some of his paintings and I have been interested in trying it out. Your use of multiple brands to test is helpful.
Thank you for your informative video. In my experience, I actually only used gouache in a liquid form once. When I had to make a color wheel chart for homework at school. Other than that, I have been using dried gouache on a metal palette. I set it up years ago but only used it very sparingly until this year. I have been painting almost everyday since January with the dried gouache palette to practice and getting used to the medium. I always use pipette to drop 2 or more drops of water on each well before I'm painting and it's completely fine. All the paints that I used are winsor and newton gouache. I am more experienced with watercolor before I used gouache. So, I'm very comfortable with transparent washes and layering. I can still achieve opaque colors and layers if I want to though. Once I'm done painting, I just let the palette open and dry out. If i know I'm painting again tomorrow, I don't even bother closing the palette and store it away. I never clean the mixing area. I'm just too lazy 😅 Fyi, I never used blending medium or clove oil to any of the paints. And somehow I feel fine about it. It never disturb my work flow and I never have to deal with mold. I hope this is helpful and informative to many. Have a nice weekend!
Hi, I too let mine dry out and work from it like that but I've had trouble with my Yellow Ochre (and Burnt Sienna somewhat) cracking and crumbling badly. I'd appreciate it, if you have found a decent Yellow Ochre could you let me know the brand please?
@@highcroftartstudio hi Lena. I would assume Sarah can answer you better for this question. I have only ever worked with Winsor and Newton gouache and because I let them all dry, most of them crumble and crack anyway. It has never bothered me since when I drop water on them they pretty much go back to a consistency that I'm capable of working with. Tbh, I'm not an expert with gouache. So, I don't know if cracked/ crumbling gouache will affect the quality of painting or not. I know many professional artists who uses gouache still use their cracked/ crumbled gouache (example: Alex Ross). Hopefully this is helpful enough for you.
I just love and adore your gouache paintings. It's what inspires me. Currently I can only do illustrations with gouache but someday I hope I'll be able to paint like you. 💋
wow this video made me want to make a 'dry' gouache palette of my own too. Thank you for showing me how you clean up too as one of the reasons I use liquid gouache is I hate using dirty paint and palettes.
Thank you for such a helpful, thorough video. I find that, because I am often painting for just a few minutes a day after work, it’s impossible to squeeze out just the right amount of liquid gouache every time, and most of the time I end up with more than I need or can use in one session. I have a diy stay-wet palette that works well, but I can’t always keep after it and both keep it wet and/or finish the project before the paint dries fully. I like to use dry gouache in part just to avoid wasting the paint. One of the things I like about watercolor is that it’s so easy to leave and come back to. I wasn’t using all the gouache I had bought because I thought it had to be liquid, but I finally went back to some dry gouache, mostly Holbein and W&N, that had been dry for months. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they performed. It’s great to have you confirm my experience with this video. And btw, I also had some Shinhan Pass in there, which I thought reactivated especially well.
i have a dry gouache palette of full pans of M. Graham... instead of trying to keep them wet, i sort of intentionally let them dry into little bricks haha. it took a while; longer than Winsor & Newton does. maybe about a week or so. but they are literally blocks now and they move around a bit in the pans. i mist them with water and let them soak before i use them. they're nowhere near as opaque as they would be straight from the tube, but i usually work with gouache in thin watered down layers and gradually work up to using less and less water at the end. it works well for me!
Thanks for this… and for sharing all of your gouache experiments. I’m just starting with gouache, and the choices can be dizzying! Your detailed info and considerations have helped clear my head and clear the way. Rock on, Sarah! 👏💙😉
I would VERY much like to know more about how you set up when you’re gouache-ing while sitting on your couch. My husband really likes me to sit with him in the evening and I’d much rather be painting, but find it difficult to figure out the best way.
Just my sketchbook on my lap, the palette next to me on the arm of the sofa. Or I sometimes put everything on a clipboard. It has to be very movable because I constantly get up, which is why the micro palette is best
I am so thankful for all the research and time you put into your work. I have learned so much from you. I recently joined your Patreon and I enjoy your videos so much I wish I had joined sooner!
You are right Its not just the brand, its the individual pigment properties that are different. Im a pigment nerd and know the pigments used. I want to mention that even in watercolor, cobalt pigments will dry very chalky. The more pigmented they are the chalkier and flakier they dry out. The Viridian pigment PG18 will behave likewise. Since Graham has the highest pigment load the their cobalts/ceruleans really do tacky up really quick. Even my whole tube of Graham watercolor Cobalt Turquoise dried up. I had to cut the tube and peal it away from the paint to use. PS. I always use a couple drops of vegetable glycerin in hard to rewet watercolor and do the same with all of my gouache. It's amazing!
It’s unfortunate that they include such a dry pigment in their primary set. Their gouache is extremely difficult to buy in UK so we don’t have a choice.
For anyone who has their paint dry in the tubes regularly, this can happen when there is paint dried on the lid; it doesn’t screw back on airtight if its not clean!
I love your curiosity with gouache, loved how many iterations/variables you introduced to this test along the way. Your test paintings are gorgeous as always! One thing I've started to add to my dry watercolour (not gouache) palette is vegetable oil for some "crumbly" colours like my ultramarine. It has helped the "rewetability" of it and I will continue to add that to colours that need it
I thought about doing that with the cobalt because it’s a naturally dry pigment. I was hopeful the M Graham would be better since it has honey but I guess it’s just how cobalt will always be 🤣
Thank you for the tip. I’ve been frustrated by the consistency of Daniel Smith‘s ultramarine blue - it keeps falling out of the pan (I use tube paints to fill my own pans) bc it shrinks so much while drying.
This is so funny, I was thinking about dry gouache for a while but I haven’t seen anyone talk about it and most people do not like the idea of their gouache being “dry”. I actually never tried gouache before, I recently started to use watercolors and I like it, I would like to try gouache but I live in a “small” tiny home, limited space and always on the move, I know I will have a mess haha Thank you for this video, very informative and fun :)
one thing i've done so i can take an easy gouache palette to work with me (desk job) is use the art toolkit palette, and i added a drop of glycerine to each pan and mixed it in while filling it. the pans have still cracked slightly, some more than others, but nothings crumbled and fallen out yet, it has great portability and i can easy switch colours as i feel like it. As you've observed though, some colours dry more than others. I would make notes and add SLIGHTLY more glycerine to certain colours when i refill them in the future. I personally think it's helped with re-wettability as well, but too much glycerine will make your colours go shiny and form an odd sticky film when painting with them.
Ahh interesting! I always assumed the really thin ‘piles’ of paint would crack way too fast (like in those mini flat palettes). But that’s good to know
Thank you so much for creating this video. The mind set to me at least, was not to let your gouache dry. This really opens up the versatility of it. I can't thank you enough for doing this video. I am going to try this!
I felt that way for a long time, because in the past I wasn’t patient enough to let the water soak in. I would just use a wet brush and try to rewet it which never resulted in very opaque color. So yea, it definitely opens up a lot of possibilities to do it this way!
This was great to see. I will also research hiw my paints work. I truggle wjth the consistency of fresh gouache, so this could be a good alternative. Thanks, Sarah!
This video was EXCELLENT! I was looking for this answers with my different Gouache brands, especially since my gouache dried out. I mean really dried out. I'm going to go now and try to reactivate my dried out palette. I use a lot of different mediums and sometimes I go long periods using only one.
Hi Sarah - you’ve mentioned that Daniel Smith is probably the best brand for dried gouache, but it’s so expensive! Could you do a video where you talk about the most affordable options for each basic colour? For example, it looks like burnt umber dries hard, so DS might be important for that colour on a dried palette. But maybe for a lemon yellow hue a Shinhan would be fine? A video like that would be super helpful with decision making about which colours to splurge on for a dried palette, and which cheaper versions hold up just fine :)
Thanks so much Sarah for the excellent video and taking the time to test the different paints! I just purchased the additive a couple of weeks ago and haven’t tried it out yet. Glad to see that it seems to work. Thanks again❣️❤️😊👍
I’ll be interested to see your thoughts in a month or so. I’ve had my dried palette a year now and in comparison the dried palette here still looks very wet. Mine has cracked a lot but I really enjoy using it more like watercolour, a kind of a middle ground between watercolour and gouache. I feel like you have to paint with it in a different way when it is fully dry, but you can get some really lovely techniques 😊
The experimental side of my brain can't wait to see it in a year too 😂 But since I paint so often, I am not sure it's a fair comparison to someone who lets it dry for months. Maybe I need a second palette that's allowed to dry for months, and see what happens to the paint.
I also let mine dry fully and like working from it like that. Apart from two colours that crumbled badly, the rest seem ok and I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about trying to keep them wet, adding mediums, dealing with mould etc. I'm too lazy! I do put out fresh white each time I paint but the rest are rewet from dry/hard. I use them a bit more like watercolour and build up layers and it seems fine for this purpose
@@SarahBurnsStudioyes, please leave some to dry totally hard for a few months. Would love to see your thoughts about opacity etc. It looks ok to me but would like to see a more experienced artists perspective. Obviously adding water is going to change the consistency to some degree but for basic sketching and plein air painting, a dry palette seems soooo much easier!
To prevent gouache from cracking when it dries put a couple of drops of vegetable glycerine into each half pan, stir well with a toothpick. When you want to use it just spritz with water about ten minutes before painting.
Hi! I enjoy gouache a lot, but I always reach for my pans of watercolour because they are way easier to handle than running paints. So gouache in a pan sounds good to me !😊 I have to try it !❤
Unfortunately for me, I have discovered that my new 5-tube set of M Graham gouache dries very quickly on the palette. Trying to keep paints opaque is a fun challenge for a watercolorist! Your work is amazing. Thank you for the informative and inspirational vlogs!
Always so informative. I have been doing research to set up my first gouache palette and your videos and blog posts have helped me the most. Thank you!
I love M Graham as a watercolor, but for me I found I really like the Holbein, Winsor x Newton and my own handmade colors more for my gouache. I make my gouache with a Schmincke binder, and it works really well. Not had the chance to try the Daniel Smith gouache yet. I'm also glad I had a palette all made up because right now I'm really sick, and doing a bit of sketching/painting in bed. It's surprising how well the quality changes from brand to brand when it comes to having a dried palette. This was an interesting journey to watch! Some artists really 'poopoo' the idea of having a dried gouache palette, but I found it to be an under appreciated form of paint when one can't be at the studio/desk for whatever reason.
Thanks for doing this test, Sarah. Based on your results, it seems like I should stick to watercolor on location and maybe finish things off with gouache in studio. 🎨
Daddy’s cheap so I use Turner gouache from Jerry’s, plus I get a nice discount there. I haven’t used the WN medium but I’m intrigued. The Turner dries after a couple days but it doesn’t get weird in any way. I can always spritz to reconstitute. If I know I’m going to paint, I spritz before my outing for adequate soak time. I use a bamboo skewer to stir. It’s not perfect as when fresh tube wet but it works pretty darn good. I spritz before my outing for additional soak time and that works. I don’t overthink it and have been doing this for years. My 2¢. Thanks for taking me along.
Mine is a mix of Windsor & Newton and Dahler-Rowney's designer gouache, with a drop of glycerine added to each pan, and it's been working fine for years now.
Hullo Sarah, It is Interesting to see what your experiences were just 1 year ago! I had always used gouache from the tube and let my palette set overnight if I was not finished with my assignment. Company policy was to spray your work station down with alcohol before leaving to eliminate germs and to keep mold from forming on tools and surfaces. The service staff made up the spray bottles we used, so I am not really sure what the ratio's were back then. Even now as I am considering going back into gouache I am very hesitant to make a dry palette. I know it will last longer, but then again, will it? I know everyone has their way of working and I may simply be happier with regular watercolors. I will admit that I have yet to get the same feel of the Studio Ghibli paintings, even the versions I have seen online by artists I truly admire only get close with gouache and the best I have yet seen are using Nicker Poster colors! I will have to look closer at your library and see if you have done any work studies or cell reproductions? Well off to the search! Please take care and have a lovely day!
Sarah thanks for doing this video and being so informative. I am getting ready to do my own experiment on gouache. Getting thing around for plein air. I was reading about the Daniel Smith gouache and it’s supposed to be designed to be able to dry into a palette. That’s one of the features why I wanted the Daniel Smith gouache. I will have to let you know my results. Thanks for sharing this info. Please keep inspiring and tell Wolfie hello. 💕💕💕
Very interesting and thanks Sarah for doing these 'investigations' into gouache. I'm still just a beginner with it but I got sick of trying to maintain a stay wet palette for it so after a while I just let them dry. I discovered after many months when they were totally dry and hard, some cracked, some didn't, some crumbled more etc. Not sure if it's due to brands or colour pigments. I think its really trial and error. I found WN Phthalo Blue and Spectrum Violet dried really hard and are harder to rewet (but still doable). My Royal Talens so far seem ok, and most of my Art Spectrum (Australian brand) have dried without cracking/crumbling and are easy enough to rewet, except for their Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna which crumble badly, so I'm on the lookout for another brand for these two. It also depends how you use gouache. I tend to use it a bit like watercolour so reworking it from dry seems ok for that purpose. I have also done a few swatches to check opacity and from my beginner eyes it honestly appears fine. It's definitely ok for sketches, plein air etc but if you are doing more serious paintings with the aim to sell then this would need to be examined more thoroughly I think. I got the idea of letting them dry from another experienced gouache youtube artist who creates amazing paintings from a dry palette but I can't remember his name! Everyone else says you have to keep them wet etc, but this guy proved it can be done. There is also another guy who uses white gouache with his normal watercolour palette when out plein air painting to achieve similar results to gouache. As you say, it's an interesting medium and I think the best approach is to throw rules out the window and experiment. I look forward to seeing your results down the track if/when you finally settle on a dry palette regarding pigments and brands. I'm on the lookout for a decent Yellow Ochre if anyone's reading this! 😊
Well we must be in sink because I just pulled out my dry palette today and I haven’t touched it in maybe 2 years? I was initially underwhelmed because i like the creaminess of fresh gouache. But lately I’ve been craving an opaque watercolour look… and I think this might be the answer. Always enjoy your trials and experiments. Interested to see how it develops for you! Ps I made mine wth Royal Talens and the Schmincke student line.
Interesting video I've always worked with a dry palette (M Graham). Actuall prefer it this way lol. i think it's whatever you get used to. In my climate it would be impossible to keep it wet long enough.
Lindsay the frugal crafter told us to dry out our jelly gouache. I just rehydrated them bc it was so hard to rewet and get creamy. I also bought some turners gouache to try, I had know idea Daniel Smith made gouache, I love their watercolours. Also, the pallet you have is very useful, I want one. ❤❤
The ceramic pallet you have there, I have two of those small pallets. I’ve put my Holbein gouache in it, mixed in a drop of blending medium and let dry. Mine re wet easily. My Winsor and Newton I have them in the stay wet pallet and I do have some in a plastic pallet dried. One of the red colours dried like rock but the rest re wets ok. Using dried gouache feels like in between watercolour and wet gouache, well it’s opaque watercolour I guess but I like this. I like to use them both dry and wet. 🤷🏼♀️😃 I love gouache 😊
Enjoyed this video. I am in the Rocky Mountians of Colorado. Our air is really dry. Any wet media is hard here due to fast drying. I have been a watercolorist for decades and am just starting with gouache this year. Wanting to play with the opacity that watercolor lacks. So the dried gouache segments was very helpful. You mentioned a silicone sheet you place in your palette but it is not on the supply list, please more information.
I've had good luck with Talons gouache dried down in a palette. I have the primary magenta, cyan, yellow, and naples yellow red and it doesn't crack barely at all, and rewets nicely. I also tried with some Holbein I got in a subscription box and it seems to rewet even better, but does crack a bit more. Mine gets to sit for a month sometimes so it gets super dry. I end up using it like opaque watercolor. I love it.
I find Talons very sticky when in liquid form. They use Dextrin instead of gum arabic, which makes it behave differently, and it sounds like it's ideal in dried form. Thanks for your insights!
consider trying Kuretake Gansai. It is a dry watercolor/gouache that rewets beautifully and has nice opacity. The pans are large and flat so you can use a wide brush. I use low tack glue to put the colors i need in a palette and swap out as needed. I have tried drying out several brands of gouache in order to make it more portable for outdoor painting, but got frustrated with the rewetting and loss of opacity.
I just found your channel and subscribed - thanks for sharing your experience with gouache! Regarding dried gouache: I got a golden yellow from Lascaux, Caran d'Ache, and it works great when rewetted. Very creamy consistence. I got some student grade gouache tubes from Reeves, and they can be rewetted, but they are not opaque anymore then. With them I try to squeeze out as much as I need and then clean my palette...
Oh, I need to try that blending medium! I prefer working from dry just because I'm lazy and fearful of mold, but my Holbein crumbles so badly (especially the burnt umber).
Maybe try some other brands. I work from dried gouache too and found so far that my Winsor Newton, Royal Talens and most of my Art Spectrum paints don't crumble (aside from Art Spectrum Yellow Ochre, but I'm not sure if that's due to the pigment or brand). Some dry really hard and are a bit harder to rewet too. It's worth trying out some other brands to find a dry palette you're happy with. I agree, it's so much easier than trying to keep a wet palette going!
@Lena Donohue Thanks Lena. I might have to replace it for travel, but I was hoping to avoid buying new. My Schmincke gouache is much better behaved but I only have a couple colors and I know sometimes a specific pigment can be more poorly behaves (don't want to buy a bunch of crumbly browns 😆)
I set my dry gouache palette up in an art tool kit pocket palette and mixed in a little (drop or two) of glycerin after a recommendation on Instagram. The glycerin seems to have prevented the cracking and crumbling I was having trouble with, but I still haven’t tested this on WN primary red (which has been my worst color to crack and rewet). Have you tried adding glycerin? I’m curious how the glycerin would compare to the blending medium.
I have some of my Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache and Schmincke Horadam gouache in a palette and I noticed that the Winsor & Newton gouache (a few earth tones and Ivory Black) dries out more and is harder to rewet but I like the convenience to have some gouache for on the go painting or painting small in a sketchbook. But it's good that I'm not the only person that is trying out a dry gouache palette.
I have used my royal Talens gouache only a few times now (newbie) I put some drops of the colors I have on a porcelain plate but didn’t use it all. Because I didn’t want to waste it I kept using the leftovers the days and some weeks later. These were dried but still enjoyed using them. But I can’t really compare. You don’t need a palette, you can also use an old plate to keep you (dried) gouache ready to use.
I only use gouache for mandalas and I have used Arteza. I had some ceramic palettes where the colors dried completely. I used them over and over. I tried putting them in a plastic palette to keep and one of the colors got moldy so I never tried it again. I would like to learn to use gouache more so I'm really interested in your experiments.
I did buy that wet palette you have. Used it once plein air. Had no palette knife. What a nightmare! Made a hell of a mess! So glad I only put a couple of colours in it. Then you changed to a dry palette. I was going to get that portable palette you use but I’ve bought the art toolkit one. Have you had any cracking issues? Why does that happen with gouache more than watercolour?
I want to emphasize the fact that certain colors don’t rewet as easily as others. So unless you compare every single color in every single brand, the brand comparison isn’t completely fair. BUT, these are my observations of my colors in the palette. Read my blog post for more insights.
Hi. Thank you for this. You said (I think) that you would include a link or address to your blog in the comments. I’ll look again but I don’t think I saw anything about it here.
@@kr2112the blog link is in the description
Thank you for sharing all your research. It sounds like in the end your favorite version is still a wet version of the dried palette?
Sarah, I live in damp and moldy Florida. I always add a couple of drops of rubbing alcohol to my spray bottle water. I use this on watercolor, gouache, and acrylics and have never had a mold problem. Love your site and work. Thank you for all you do!
I’m thinking about adding a limited pallet of gouache to my painting journey . I live in the SE Texas & like Florida it is humid almost every day of the year. What gouache do you feel works best in humid climates. I’m so glad Sarah is here to bring us together with posts like this one.
@@TheNeedleneuk Hi Mary, I use Winsor & Newton Designer's colors (had the complete set in a plastic box stored for well over 25 years and they are still perfect!), but any artist quality gouache should work.
@@DMannionArt do you use them from the tube or do you use them dry? I have had a heck of a time trying to rewet the W&N.
ayy fellow Floridian! For me I use dried gouache, just spray and use. I've tried alcohol, clove oil (not the bud one), I still got mold. my method for years is to spray the gouache, close the lid let it sit, and then use it.
Ok. You have totally inspired me to try a “couch palette” I need something smaller and more compact than my standard palette because I often don’t do quick gouche sketches because of the palette set up and space I feel I need. I know I know unacceptable excuse but it just never occurred to me to try a dry/small palette. I’ll maybe need to do a couple!
COUCH PALETTE CLUB!
Sarah I am new to gouache and your channel is absolutely the best source of information and encouragement. Thank you!❤
I know how frustrating and weird it can be at first, which is why I'm fascinated by it and love sharing what I learn!
when I initially poor them, I put a 1-3 drops of vegetable glycerin depending on the viscosity of the paint straight out of the tube. Then I tap any air bubbles out after mixing, and try to make sure the paint touches every corner of the its pan. After that, I check the paint each day to see when it gets to a putty texture, and when that happens, I push it down with my thumb so that it's in every nook of the pan. I keep doing that until all of the paint is dry and usually there shouldn't be any cracks, sometimes there still is, I noticed W&N doesn't crack as often as other brands, but Holbein still rewets really nicely.
From that point, if there are any cracks, it's usually either surface level and not very deep, or one deep one, which i've noticed with Arteza, and I haven't had any colors fall out of my palette.
I love having a dried gouache palette always handy. For me, I don't like to waste an ounce of paper drives me nuts. It's an OCD thing. So I will do a study using the dry palette on my beautiful large piece of paper (watercolor blocks are great for this) because I can sketch quickly with it. I can take it back into the studio with a reference photo and finish the painting with my wet palette.
I like to use the blending medium sometimes instead of water. If I put the blending medium down on the paper as if I'm using water for watercolor I can then blend my paint on the paper and it works almost like an oil. It's really cool. Give it a shot. I get some really great effects that way. It's a trick playing with amounts. You really don't need very much.
What cool trick! Thank you!
It’s always a great day when Sarah posts a video!
I’ve been using a mix of watercolor and dried gouache for a few months and I absolutely love it. It seems to almost function like oil paint at that point where you can do layer upon layer and build up to the final look! I can’t wait to see more of what you do with your dried gouache
Here’s another I’ve tried with good success. Mixing the paint, 1/2 watercolor with 1/2 gouache with the same color or close cousin. It worked great. It worked for me when I couldn’t find Anthraquanone Blue in gouache. So I mixed my Daniel Smith AB with Ultramarine Blue gouache. It’s perfect.
Great tip!
This was such a great video. I've personally not enjoyed using reactivated gouache and much prefer to use straight from the tube, but it's still good to know what the real differences are and how to make reactivated gouache work as well as possible. Thanks again for all your gouachtigations, Sarah.
gouachtigations 😂
It's so intriguing that M. Graham gouache dries the fastest! I have M. Graham watercolors that haven't dried in *years*. I have to keep those palettes flat or they will run into other wells 😅 Thanks for all your work on these videos! I'm really enjoying the series.
I tested their Azo yellow and Naphthol red too and they didn’t dry as fast. But unfortunately I only have their primary mixing set because they aren’t easily available here. I wish they included some less “dry” pigments in their primary set if you know what I mean 😅 but I really love them in liquid form so I am happy to keep using them that way! (Yes I know what you mean about their watercolours, I have a couple and they never dry!)
@@SarahBurnsStudio I have also only tried the primary set from MG and have found the same (should have mentioned that!). I've been on the fence about trying some different pigments as well. If I get around to it, I'll report back!
@@InLiquidColor I'm tempted to pick up a bigger set of them next time I visit family in the USA. Until then I have plenty of other options to keep me occupied!
On a separate note - I've been binging your daniel smith videos (again) because I'm currently in the process of moving to a fully DS watercolor palette. Your videos are a goldmine of information! Thank you for all of your effort over the years!
@@SarahBurnsStudio Aw, thank you, Sarah. I'm glad they've been helpful!
I prefer to plein air pain with dried gouache. Last year I bought the square box with a seal like you have (it also came with a silicone collapsible cup and strap. I couldn't resist. What a mess😅 it was not for me. I also bought the jerry q swivel palette that takes 18 half pans. I do half watercolor and half gouache. I used John Muir Laws tip to compress the paint as it dries so it dosn't crack. I use waterbrushes with it and its awesome. I have m graham and Lukas gouache in it and random watercolors. Love your experiments and reviews! ❤
Do you mean you combine 50%/50% watercolor and gouache in one well? Or just put them in different wells but the palette is split 50/50? That’s interesting!
How do you compress the paint?
@@jeanettefamulari3538 I was curious about this too and had a look at his gouache video - he presses down on the gouache with his finger as it dries to avoid crumbling: th-cam.com/video/Y6xWMHpTRoE/w-d-xo.html (go to 37:13)
I do like the look of the lpaint saver palette but I make such a mess when I fill my watercolour pans that I can't think what sort of a state I, and the palette, would be in by the time I'd finished!
Sarah. YOU are the real GOAT just for doing this lol. I appreciated every second of this video.
I dont know what that means but maybe thank you? 😂
@@SarahBurnsStudiothe Greatest Of All Time 😊 … And I second that!
This video is so helpful! I have been wanting to give a dried gouache palette a try, but was worried I’d be wasting my gouache because it would lose its gouache properties. I’m a huge fan of having my colours available to me in palette form so I don’t have to waste time getting tubes out, choosing colours, trying to figure out whether to use my stay-wet palette, or something else… all of those little steps can use up 15-20 minutes of my time and sometimes I only have 30 minutes total available to me! If it’s all “good to go” in a palette and I don’t have the added decisions, I can just relax and paint. (Hence watercolour is much easier for me on a weeknight, but I leave gouache for weekends). Now to decide which palette (and colours) I might like to setup for a dried gouache experiment of my own.
Anxious to read other comments from people who have done this already 😊. Am wondering if I should buy blending medium before I get started…
That's why I love having my 'couch palette' ready to go, it makes it super easy to spend 5-10 minutes sketching before dinner, or between a show..just very casual easy setup.
My Micro palette doesn't dry as fast because of my 'modifications' but it eventually does dry if I don't touch it. I'm sure if I left it alone for months it would be very dry. But if you're looking for a solution that might be something to try.
Even just keeping it wrapped in a cloth or pencil pouch would slow drying time.
Okay I am feeling better about my whole gouache experience now after watching this video. I live in a hot 🥵 humid climate where both my gouache & watercolors dry so quickly when using them straight from the tubes that when I have leftover gouache I was using it from pans after they dried out some. I hated wasting any paint & decided it would be fine with me to still use it afterwards with rewetting them. Thanks for sharing this informational video with us & giving me the knowledge that I am doing fine with how I am using my gouache paints even with them a bit dry. 💕😊
So interesting to see how the different brands react, especially the Daniel Smith which is so good to know, thank you!
When you let gouache dry, the water evaporates out. When you reactivate it - replenishing the water will not by default reduce opacity.
People often VERY MUCH underestimate the power of reactivation - you need more water than you think, and need to let it set up longer than you think. And then the opacity is fine. (:
It's a balance, but once you get the hang of it, it's great! Nature journaling is where I see dried gouache be deployed most frequently and the results are lovely.
That’s the key - the patience required to let the water soak in deep enough. If you dont want long enough the top layer has too much water and is more transparent.
@@SarahBurnsStudio you know, when you say it that way...........
... it totally makes sense that I see it most often with nature journaling. Since that very often involves
1 people with patience, and
2 earth tones, which tend to rewet pretty well (and in some brands seem to dry a little quicker too!).
OOOHH~ yes, that actually. That makes a *lot* of sense.
Don't mind me, just having a moment and connecting some dots.. 🤣🤣
I love using gouache this way. Mine (Arteza) have been in a palette for 3 months now and they still perform great. A tip I heard was to add a drop of clove oil to each pan to prevent mold, and that is working too. I don't let them dry out completely, as I'm using them every week and giving them a spray each time, so they stay sort of semi-tacky rather than going completely solid.
My arteza gouache dry almost immediately. They def rewet but not very well. You just use water?
Sarah has told us she uses a drop of clove oil in hers to prevent mold
Arteza dries insanely fast! I wouldn't use it for this purpose.
Maybe try the blending medium
Oh and I'm not saying you 'can't' use Arteza for this - just that I wouldn't. I have a lot of other gouache that performs great dried, so I don't need to 😀
@@SarahBurnsStudio Yes! I prefer gouache palettes but for arteza (which i use in my sketchbook and bullet journal) I literally have to keep it in a tube. For me, it seems it takes so much water to reconstitute, it's basically watercolor afterwards. It doesn't suck, its just transparent. I've heard lindsay the frugal crafter say she would rather use arteza gouache as watercolor than their watercolor..so it might be good that way 🤔
Hi Sarah. Jim from Madrid - Spain again (a NY expat happily living here!).
You know I've been a fan of yours, specially for Gouache. So you know, I've spent my professional life as a Strategic and Biz Consultant, now in early retirement due to health issues.
Why am I sharing this with you? (It's my first and only time)... 1- Art has and is helping me in my own struggles (in a positive way!).
2- I started into painting thanks to you and your love for Gouache.
3- I am in love now with both, watercolor and Gouache.
I am sending this message to you because I strongly believe you have acknowledged a BIG niche area not covered so far (similar to Dr. Oto Kano in watercolor, if you know what I mean), and it has a great potential to become a good niche biz project for Gouache too, but with it's own differences in types of paint by brand, as well as maintenance (dry-wet), by type if colour/pigment, etc... (I'm not an expert but I do share your passion).
So, as an idea (thinking-out-of-the-box, as I would for any business propossition) a Database and "much more" can become a healthy and good business for GOUACHE.
I can't be involved in this idea due to my circumstances but I am sharing it with you directly (and I've only explained to you briefly) in this message. Even a Joint Venture (JV) with O. K. might be interesting since you're both neighbours in Scotland.
Please let me know if I can be if any more help by answering this post and I can contact you in private if you let me know how. Again... I'm just offering some help with no stake in anything at all (I really can't right now, honestly - health issues) but I don't mind helping if I can for something as beautiful as this (Art, painting, Gouache and Watercolor).
And in any case... please don't stop investigating (R&D) because it us extremely helpful to many, many, many people world wide that use Gouache!!!
Cheers from Madrid and I will continue to watch your videos and, THANK YOU for sharing your talent and your ideas and information! Jim.
Sarah. I just wanted to quickly explain what I think might be a great business opportunity, but my wife just read my post and she has told me not to get involved due to my current health issues (sorry, it's my professional mind at play here). But I hope you can understand what I was trying to explain and it is not my intention at all to get involved into your business or anything. So sorry if I overstepped on anything. I hope to continue to learn from you and take my comments in good faith and honestly. Cheers from Madrid!
Hoping to visit Madrid next summer, what is one have to see or do item?
I'm just going to keep doing my own thing
@@SarahBurnsStudio Just trying to help, I swear! Not trying anything wrong! Just giving ideas. And I don't want any part if it, for real!.
I hope everything's awesome for YOU! And you have taught me a lot! So thank YOU!.
Cheers from Madrid!
@@Makbabe72 Well... Madrid is a great and beautiful City within Spain. The City center is full of architecture from the "Austria's Kings" as well as many many other historical things to visit. Great weather after March until November (usually), that's of the reasons for the international typical saying... "In Spain, the rain, falls mainly... on the plane"!
Check it out in the Internet... and Madrid people are very open and nice, but, of course, as in any major City (NY, London, Paris, etc.) Always beware... just in case.
Hope you have a great trip!
Cheers!
This is super comforting because I’ve had the idea that dried gouache was inferior stuck in my head but also I live in Australia and keeping a wet palette is too much maintenance for me.
I'm in Australia too and it was too much maintenance doing the wet palette, trying to avoid mould etc. I let mine dry out fully and rewet them when needed. Have seen other artists on youtube use dried gouache too, so it's definitely doable. I too had it stuck in my head for about a year that dried gouache was a no no, but for sketching, plein air etc it seems fine to me
Just to add my vote for dried gouache to the hive-mind collective...
As a first experience with gouache, I purchased the Himi jelly gouache 24 color set in a year ago. I'm more of a dabbler than a serious artist, so I didn't want to invest a lot in a medium that I might not like or use.
I put the colors in an 18-well plastic palette with a couple of 1/2 & full pans to equal 24.
I like the paint and palette more than I thought I would! The paint dried in the palette within a week and most colors developed some cracks. I spritz the dried colors with water at least 10 minutes before using, or every so often, if they've been allowed to sit unused sometimes for weeks at a time.
Nothing has molded, nor have the dried cracked paint crumbled or fallen out of their wells. I think they rewet beautifully.
A titanium white gouache, my only M Graham, is always more difficult to rewet, but maybe that's a characteristic of the pigment and not the brand.
Anyway, I just wanted to give a thumbs up for a dried gouache palette from my experience. I'd gladly do the same with artist quality paint, though I imagine every brand and pigment recipe could behave differently.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, experience, amazing artwork, and love of nature's beauty, Sarah!!
Your work is so inspiring!
Cheers everyone,
Susan in S. Cal. - near the coast, & not super dry most of the time.
💚🎨
I remember,as a child I had a palet with very cheap dry paint in round tablets. This does remind me of working with that palet which I kept for years! Thank you for Al that hard work you have for our benefits🌹🤗❤️
Hey Sarah, my first dried palette with Winsor&Newton gouache was a crumbly desaster and some of the paints didn´t rewet at all once they were dried out completely (Primary Red I´m looking at YOU!). In the mean time, I bought a set of Royal Talens Extra Fine Gouache. Like you, I wasn´t too impressed by the stickiness of these paints fresh from the tube. But then I filled them in a palette and let them dry and wow - they behave so much better than my dried Winsor&Newton paints! Very little cracking, they seem to dry all in about the same time and they all rewet extremely well, even the notorious burnt umber. And the stickiness of the dextrin binder isn´t much of a problem with reactivated paints, as you´ll get a little bit more water into the paint anyways. So I prefer Winsor&Newton fresh from the tube, but in my plein air kit, the dried Royal Talens gouache is my favorite!
Hi, when I set up my quash pallet. I put in a couple of drops of honey in my colors. I do this for two reasons one honey isn’t natures anti-microbial agent. It prevent mold from forming. The second reason is that the honey keeps the wash from becoming crumbly when it dries rockhard and I read it and use it. I find that it was easier this way too.
Thank you for making such a thorough video on this! It's great to know that it's not the end of the world if one of my colors dries up in my palette 😅 Incredible video Sarah! 💛
I swear you are reading my mind on what video topics to pick. I wanted to try a dry gouache palette and you helped me so much with this video. Thank yo for what you do and I hope my gouache art skills develop to be like yours. Have a good one 😊👍
Thanks for your thorough work in these experiments. I gave up on gouache after university, but having a palette for plein air sketches might just get me interested in it again
What a great video! I love getting more tips on how to make gouache easier to handle.
Here’s a couple of ideas I’ve used with success. Use the blending medium (or propylene glycol, same thing and cheaper) to make your whites stay creamy. Use a small plastic bottle with a twist-nozzle on the top. Mix your white with blending medium in the bottle. Lena Rivo says to use about 1 part medium to 4 parts paint I believe. Mix them up well, get another small jar/container of some sort and store the plastic bottle upside down in it. When you need some white, you can quickly and quickly squirt it out where you need it. I have two separate jars, one for titanium white and one for zinc white. Another tip: put some blending medium in a little holder by where you paint. Dip your brush in there when the paint gets hard to spread. Yet another tip: put out a blob of white paint on the palette; drizzle a little medium over the top of it. It will stay creamy sooo much longer. I have had no problems whatsoever with the medium making the paint thin or streaky.
This works well for painting at home: get some little 1” x 1” plastic cups with pop on lids. Put your paint colors in, stir in some medium. I keep mine that way. I stored some for about 15 months only opening them twice and spritzing them with water. They are still perfect. There are “air-tight” palettes sold on Amazon that hold these perfectly, many different sizes. You can store the paints you’re using in one of these without the caps so they are easier to access.
What I’m really interested in is hearing whether anyone has seen or tried the new Mijello Mission Class Titanium Gouache? NOT the previous one the White Class. I believe that has been phased out and this is the new formula. There is very little information out there that I’ve found. Heres what they say: it is designed to be stored in palettes. You can let them dry or use an air tight one. You can use it thin like watercolor or full strength as gouache and anywhere in between. They do not crack in the palette and do not crack if you paint on paper thickly.
I got the set of 36 from Amazon for about $130, so less than $4 a 15ml tube. So far, they are everything they say and more. The creamiest, smoothest paint ever. Beautiful and bright. If I let them dry out, they can be rewet with the softest stroke of a damp brush, instantly. If I put a sta-wet sponge in the palette with them, they stay shiny and moist. I love this paint! But. Amazon was down to only two sets left, so I purchased a second set in case they never come back. Sarah, do you know anything about this paint? I wonder whether more is coming and whether they will become available open stock.
I’ve never heard of it - except for a couple recent comments. Definitely not available here yet. But maybe ‘soon?’ If it gets more popular
What a treasure trove of tips! Thank you!! 🙏
Love your gouache videos.. Bernard Dellario uses a very dried gouache for some of his paintings and I have been interested in trying it out. Your use of multiple brands to test is helpful.
He's fabulous! I am doing his 'dried gouache' 1 day online workshop soon to hear his tips
I had not heard of him, going to check him out
Thanks
Thank you for your informative video. In my experience, I actually only used gouache in a liquid form once. When I had to make a color wheel chart for homework at school. Other than that, I have been using dried gouache on a metal palette. I set it up years ago but only used it very sparingly until this year.
I have been painting almost everyday since January with the dried gouache palette to practice and getting used to the medium. I always use pipette to drop 2 or more drops of water on each well before I'm painting and it's completely fine. All the paints that I used are winsor and newton gouache. I am more experienced with watercolor before I used gouache. So, I'm very comfortable with transparent washes and layering. I can still achieve opaque colors and layers if I want to though.
Once I'm done painting, I just let the palette open and dry out. If i know I'm painting again tomorrow, I don't even bother closing the palette and store it away. I never clean the mixing area. I'm just too lazy 😅
Fyi, I never used blending medium or clove oil to any of the paints. And somehow I feel fine about it. It never disturb my work flow and I never have to deal with mold.
I hope this is helpful and informative to many. Have a nice weekend!
Hi, I too let mine dry out and work from it like that but I've had trouble with my Yellow Ochre (and Burnt Sienna somewhat) cracking and crumbling badly. I'd appreciate it, if you have found a decent Yellow Ochre could you let me know the brand please?
@@highcroftartstudio hi Lena. I would assume Sarah can answer you better for this question.
I have only ever worked with Winsor and Newton gouache and because I let them all dry, most of them crumble and crack anyway. It has never bothered me since when I drop water on them they pretty much go back to a consistency that I'm capable of working with.
Tbh, I'm not an expert with gouache. So, I don't know if cracked/ crumbling gouache will affect the quality of painting or not. I know many professional artists who uses gouache still use their cracked/ crumbled gouache (example: Alex Ross).
Hopefully this is helpful enough for you.
Thanks so much Sarah….. it’s been a challenge keeping my palette flat! This will be a lifesaver!
I just love and adore your gouache paintings. It's what inspires me. Currently I can only do illustrations with gouache but someday I hope I'll be able to paint like you. 💋
Thank you 😊
wow this video made me want to make a 'dry' gouache palette of my own too. Thank you for showing me how you clean up too as one of the reasons I use liquid gouache is I hate using dirty paint and palettes.
Thank you for such a helpful, thorough video. I find that, because I am often painting for just a few minutes a day after work, it’s impossible to squeeze out just the right amount of liquid gouache every time, and most of the time I end up with more than I need or can use in one session. I have a diy stay-wet palette that works well, but I can’t always keep after it and both keep it wet and/or finish the project before the paint dries fully. I like to use dry gouache in part just to avoid wasting the paint. One of the things I like about watercolor is that it’s so easy to leave and come back to. I wasn’t using all the gouache I had bought because I thought it had to be liquid, but I finally went back to some dry gouache, mostly Holbein and W&N, that had been dry for months. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they performed. It’s great to have you confirm my experience with this video. And btw, I also had some Shinhan Pass in there, which I thought reactivated especially well.
i have a dry gouache palette of full pans of M. Graham... instead of trying to keep them wet, i sort of intentionally let them dry into little bricks haha. it took a while; longer than Winsor & Newton does. maybe about a week or so. but they are literally blocks now and they move around a bit in the pans. i mist them with water and let them soak before i use them. they're nowhere near as opaque as they would be straight from the tube, but i usually work with gouache in thin watered down layers and gradually work up to using less and less water at the end. it works well for me!
Such a lot of time involved in this experimentation,,,so informative…thank you so much….
Great video, as always! I'm inspired to make a gouache travel palette now ❤
Thanks for this… and for sharing all of your gouache experiments. I’m just starting with gouache, and the choices can be dizzying! Your detailed info and considerations have helped clear my head and clear the way. Rock on, Sarah! 👏💙😉
Thank you Sarah! These gouache comparisons and tests are a real help!!
I would VERY much like to know more about how you set up when you’re gouache-ing while sitting on your couch. My husband really likes me to sit with him in the evening and I’d much rather be painting, but find it difficult to figure out the best way.
Just my sketchbook on my lap, the palette next to me on the arm of the sofa. Or I sometimes put everything on a clipboard. It has to be very movable because I constantly get up, which is why the micro palette is best
Thank you for your quick reply. I have to figure the best way for this setup and maybe simple is best❤️
Your channel, true passion and enthusiasm are great. Thank you for sharing your experience and convey it in such an enjoyable way.
I'm so glad you did this video. I too am new to gouache and have been really curious about this exact thing. Thank you!
I am so thankful for all the research and time you put into your work. I have learned so much from you. I recently joined your Patreon and I enjoy your videos so much I wish I had joined sooner!
I'm so glad you find them helpful!
I just discovered bleeding medium and have tried it in my palette after watching a video by Lena Rivo. Your video has come at the perfect time!
You are right Its not just the brand, its the individual pigment properties that are different. Im a pigment nerd and know the pigments used. I want to mention that even in watercolor, cobalt pigments will dry very chalky. The more pigmented they are the chalkier and flakier they dry out. The Viridian pigment PG18 will behave likewise. Since Graham has the highest pigment load the their cobalts/ceruleans really do tacky up really quick. Even my whole tube of Graham watercolor Cobalt Turquoise dried up. I had to cut the tube and peal it away from the paint to use. PS. I always use a couple drops of vegetable glycerin in hard to rewet watercolor and do the same with all of my gouache. It's amazing!
It’s unfortunate that they include such a dry pigment in their primary set. Their gouache is extremely difficult to buy in UK so we don’t have a choice.
For anyone who has their paint dry in the tubes regularly, this can happen when there is paint dried on the lid; it doesn’t screw back on airtight if its not clean!
I love your curiosity with gouache, loved how many iterations/variables you introduced to this test along the way. Your test paintings are gorgeous as always! One thing I've started to add to my dry watercolour (not gouache) palette is vegetable oil for some "crumbly" colours like my ultramarine. It has helped the "rewetability" of it and I will continue to add that to colours that need it
I thought about doing that with the cobalt because it’s a naturally dry pigment. I was hopeful the M Graham would be better since it has honey but I guess it’s just how cobalt will always be 🤣
What kind of vegetable oil are you using, Becky?
@@Frieda_Kamstra I use vegetable glycerin :)
Thank you for the tip. I’ve been frustrated by the consistency of Daniel Smith‘s ultramarine blue - it keeps falling out of the pan (I use tube paints to fill my own pans) bc it shrinks so much while drying.
This is so funny, I was thinking about dry gouache for a while but I haven’t seen anyone talk about it and most people do not like the idea of their gouache being “dry”. I actually never tried gouache before, I recently started to use watercolors and I like it, I would like to try gouache but I live in a “small” tiny home, limited space and always on the move, I know I will have a mess haha
Thank you for this video, very informative and fun :)
Heard back from Davinci paints, their binder in gouache is gum Arabic and it’s the same binder for their watercolors.
one thing i've done so i can take an easy gouache palette to work with me (desk job) is use the art toolkit palette, and i added a drop of glycerine to each pan and mixed it in while filling it. the pans have still cracked slightly, some more than others, but nothings crumbled and fallen out yet, it has great portability and i can easy switch colours as i feel like it.
As you've observed though, some colours dry more than others. I would make notes and add SLIGHTLY more glycerine to certain colours when i refill them in the future.
I personally think it's helped with re-wettability as well, but too much glycerine will make your colours go shiny and form an odd sticky film when painting with them.
Ahh interesting! I always assumed the really thin ‘piles’ of paint would crack way too fast (like in those mini flat palettes). But that’s good to know
Thank you so much for creating this video. The mind set to me at least, was not to let your gouache dry. This really opens up the versatility of it. I can't thank you enough for doing this video. I am going to try this!
I felt that way for a long time, because in the past I wasn’t patient enough to let the water soak in. I would just use a wet brush and try to rewet it which never resulted in very opaque color. So yea, it definitely opens up a lot of possibilities to do it this way!
@@SarahBurnsStudioYou are such a talented artist and an inspiration to so many.
This was great to see. I will also research hiw my paints work. I truggle wjth the consistency of fresh gouache, so this could be a good alternative. Thanks, Sarah!
This video was EXCELLENT! I was looking for this answers with my different Gouache brands, especially since my gouache dried out. I mean really dried out. I'm going to go now and try to reactivate my dried out palette. I use a lot of different mediums and sometimes I go long periods using only one.
Hi Sarah - you’ve mentioned that Daniel Smith is probably the best brand for dried gouache, but it’s so expensive! Could you do a video where you talk about the most affordable options for each basic colour? For example, it looks like burnt umber dries hard, so DS might be important for that colour on a dried palette. But maybe for a lemon yellow hue a Shinhan would be fine? A video like that would be super helpful with decision making about which colours to splurge on for a dried palette, and which cheaper versions hold up just fine :)
I received the Caran d'Ache dried gouache tin (15 1/2 pans) for Christmas...haven't used yet...This comparison was very helpful. TY
Good luck! (reviewed recently in the student grade paint video)
Thanks so much Sarah for the excellent video and taking the time to test the different paints! I just purchased the additive a couple of weeks ago and haven’t tried it out yet. Glad to see that it seems to work. Thanks again❣️❤️😊👍
YOU ARE AWESOME, SARAH ! YOUR CHANEL IS THE GO TO FOR GOUACHE ! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU SHARE WITH US!!
Oh my gouache! Thanks for the video 😊
🤣
I’ll be interested to see your thoughts in a month or so. I’ve had my dried palette a year now and in comparison the dried palette here still looks very wet. Mine has cracked a lot but I really enjoy using it more like watercolour, a kind of a middle ground between watercolour and gouache. I feel like you have to paint with it in a different way when it is fully dry, but you can get some really lovely techniques 😊
The experimental side of my brain can't wait to see it in a year too 😂 But since I paint so often, I am not sure it's a fair comparison to someone who lets it dry for months. Maybe I need a second palette that's allowed to dry for months, and see what happens to the paint.
I also let mine dry fully and like working from it like that. Apart from two colours that crumbled badly, the rest seem ok and I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about trying to keep them wet, adding mediums, dealing with mould etc. I'm too lazy! I do put out fresh white each time I paint but the rest are rewet from dry/hard. I use them a bit more like watercolour and build up layers and it seems fine for this purpose
@@SarahBurnsStudioyes, please leave some to dry totally hard for a few months. Would love to see your thoughts about opacity etc. It looks ok to me but would like to see a more experienced artists perspective. Obviously adding water is going to change the consistency to some degree but for basic sketching and plein air painting, a dry palette seems soooo much easier!
To prevent gouache from cracking when it dries put a couple of drops of vegetable glycerine into each half pan, stir well with a toothpick. When you want to use it just spritz with water about ten minutes before painting.
Oh I need some of that bending medium 🤤
Thank you Sarah I truly appreciate this experiment you are awesome 👏
Hi! I enjoy gouache a lot, but I always reach for my pans of watercolour because they are way easier to handle than running paints. So gouache in a pan sounds good to me !😊 I have to try it !❤
This is such a great video. It surely answers sooo many questions I had about gouache.
Super interesting and thorough. I use gouache for highlights in my watercolor work but not as a medium by itself.
Unfortunately for me, I have discovered that my new 5-tube set of M Graham gouache dries very quickly on the palette. Trying to keep paints opaque is a fun challenge for a watercolorist! Your work is amazing. Thank you for the informative and inspirational vlogs!
Always so informative. I have been doing research to set up my first gouache palette and your videos and blog posts have helped me the most. Thank you!
I love M Graham as a watercolor, but for me I found I really like the Holbein, Winsor x Newton and my own handmade colors more for my gouache. I make my gouache with a Schmincke binder, and it works really well. Not had the chance to try the Daniel Smith gouache yet. I'm also glad I had a palette all made up because right now I'm really sick, and doing a bit of sketching/painting in bed. It's surprising how well the quality changes from brand to brand when it comes to having a dried palette. This was an interesting journey to watch! Some artists really 'poopoo' the idea of having a dried gouache palette, but I found it to be an under appreciated form of paint when one can't be at the studio/desk for whatever reason.
Thanks for doing this test, Sarah. Based on your results, it seems like I should stick to watercolor on location and maybe finish things off with gouache in studio. 🎨
Daddy’s cheap so I use Turner gouache from Jerry’s, plus I get a nice discount there. I haven’t used the WN medium but I’m intrigued. The Turner dries after a couple days but it doesn’t get weird in any way. I can always spritz to reconstitute. If I know I’m going to paint, I spritz before my outing for adequate soak time. I use a bamboo skewer to stir. It’s not perfect as when fresh tube wet but it works pretty darn good. I spritz before my outing for additional soak time and that works. I don’t overthink it and have been doing this for years. My 2¢. Thanks for taking me along.
I think Turner gouache is excellent. So many colors and so easy to work with
Mine is a mix of Windsor & Newton and Dahler-Rowney's designer gouache, with a drop of glycerine added to each pan, and it's been working fine for years now.
Great to hear. Does the glycerine make it shiny when dry?
@@SarahBurnsStudio I haven't noticed any shine (unless the gold, but that is supposed to be shiny).
Hi sarah just a thought instead resetting with water try a pipettes and drop neat watercolour medium
Hullo Sarah, It is Interesting to see what your experiences were just 1 year ago! I had always used gouache from the tube and let my palette set overnight if I was not finished with my assignment. Company policy was to spray your work station down with alcohol before leaving to eliminate germs and to keep mold from forming on tools and surfaces. The service staff made up the spray bottles we used, so I am not really sure what the ratio's were back then.
Even now as I am considering going back into gouache I am very hesitant to make a dry palette. I know it will last longer, but then again, will it? I know everyone has their way of working and I may simply be happier with regular watercolors. I will admit that I have yet to get the same feel of the Studio Ghibli paintings, even the versions I have seen online by artists I truly admire only get close with gouache and the best I have yet seen are using Nicker Poster colors! I will have to look closer at your library and see if you have done any work studies or cell reproductions? Well off to the search! Please take care and have a lovely day!
Sarah thanks for doing this video and being so informative. I am getting ready to do my own experiment on gouache. Getting thing around for plein air. I was reading about the Daniel Smith gouache and it’s supposed to be designed to be able to dry into a palette. That’s one of the features why I wanted the Daniel Smith gouache. I will have to let you know my results. Thanks for sharing this info. Please keep inspiring and tell Wolfie hello. 💕💕💕
Yep it's working great!
Very interesting and thanks Sarah for doing these 'investigations' into gouache. I'm still just a beginner with it but I got sick of trying to maintain a stay wet palette for it so after a while I just let them dry. I discovered after many months when they were totally dry and hard, some cracked, some didn't, some crumbled more etc. Not sure if it's due to brands or colour pigments. I think its really trial and error. I found WN Phthalo Blue and Spectrum Violet dried really hard and are harder to rewet (but still doable). My Royal Talens so far seem ok, and most of my Art Spectrum (Australian brand) have dried without cracking/crumbling and are easy enough to rewet, except for their Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna which crumble badly, so I'm on the lookout for another brand for these two. It also depends how you use gouache. I tend to use it a bit like watercolour so reworking it from dry seems ok for that purpose. I have also done a few swatches to check opacity and from my beginner eyes it honestly appears fine. It's definitely ok for sketches, plein air etc but if you are doing more serious paintings with the aim to sell then this would need to be examined more thoroughly I think. I got the idea of letting them dry from another experienced gouache youtube artist who creates amazing paintings from a dry palette but I can't remember his name! Everyone else says you have to keep them wet etc, but this guy proved it can be done. There is also another guy who uses white gouache with his normal watercolour palette when out plein air painting to achieve similar results to gouache. As you say, it's an interesting medium and I think the best approach is to throw rules out the window and experiment. I look forward to seeing your results down the track if/when you finally settle on a dry palette regarding pigments and brands. I'm on the lookout for a decent Yellow Ochre if anyone's reading this! 😊
Are you talking about Bernard Dellario and Nathan Fowkes?
Amazing video, so comprehensive. Thanks!
Well we must be in sink because I just pulled out my dry palette today and I haven’t touched it in maybe 2 years? I was initially underwhelmed because i like the creaminess of fresh gouache. But lately I’ve been craving an opaque watercolour look… and I think this might be the answer. Always enjoy your trials and experiments. Interested to see how it develops for you! Ps I made mine wth Royal Talens and the Schmincke student line.
Thanks for this demo. I’m wondering how large you would be able to paint from dried pans.
I find it hard to paint larger than 6x8 inches with dried gouache pans
Interesting video I've always worked with a dry palette (M Graham). Actuall prefer it this way lol. i think it's whatever you get used to. In my climate it would be impossible to keep it wet long enough.
Lindsay the frugal crafter told us to dry out our jelly gouache. I just rehydrated them bc it was so hard to rewet and get creamy. I also bought some turners gouache to try, I had know idea Daniel Smith made gouache, I love their watercolours. Also, the pallet you have is very useful, I want one. ❤❤
I need to try a dry pallet. So many oozy events with my square palette like yours
The ceramic pallet you have there, I have two of those small pallets. I’ve put my Holbein gouache in it, mixed in a drop of blending medium and let dry. Mine re wet easily. My Winsor and Newton I have them in the stay wet pallet and I do have some in a plastic pallet dried. One of the red colours dried like rock but the rest re wets ok. Using dried gouache feels like in between watercolour and wet gouache, well it’s opaque watercolour I guess but I like this. I like to use them both dry and wet. 🤷🏼♀️😃 I love gouache 😊
I really love that little ceramic palette. Paint behaves differently on it than plastic palettes.
That was great! Thank you!
Enjoyed this video. I am in the Rocky Mountians of Colorado. Our air is really dry. Any wet media is hard here due to fast drying. I have been a watercolorist for decades and am just starting with gouache this year. Wanting to play with the opacity that watercolor lacks. So the dried gouache segments was very helpful. You mentioned a silicone sheet you place in your palette but it is not on the supply list, please more information.
Just went to check out the classic pallette thing. USA only. thanks?? Nice to see what you cannot have.
I've had good luck with Talons gouache dried down in a palette. I have the primary magenta, cyan, yellow, and naples yellow red and it doesn't crack barely at all, and rewets nicely. I also tried with some Holbein I got in a subscription box and it seems to rewet even better, but does crack a bit more.
Mine gets to sit for a month sometimes so it gets super dry. I end up using it like opaque watercolor. I love it.
I find Talons very sticky when in liquid form. They use Dextrin instead of gum arabic, which makes it behave differently, and it sounds like it's ideal in dried form. Thanks for your insights!
Wonderful informative video Sarah! Have you ever tried the gouache palettes from Stoneground Paint Co?
No, but many people have mentioned them lately
Thank you so much for all the info Sarah! Would you tell us what you mixed for your 3 custom colors in your palette? I didn’t see it on your blog..
They change frequently…pretty much when they run out I switch things up a little. Usually a light green, a sandy color, and a purple
Love this ❤
consider trying Kuretake Gansai. It is a dry watercolor/gouache that rewets beautifully and has nice opacity. The pans are large and flat so you can use a wide brush. I use low tack glue to put the colors i need in a palette and swap out as needed. I have tried drying out several brands of gouache in order to make it more portable for outdoor painting, but got frustrated with the rewetting and loss of opacity.
Interesting!
The Kuretake Gansai warercolors are really excellent! I didn’t know they dod gouache too, thank you!
Sarah...I recently used propylene glycol ( food grade) as blending medium...it delays the drying and gives time to blend between colours
Glycerine does that, so does the blending medium
That's how I use gouache-with a lot of water. It's my gouache-that is not goiache-but rather watercolor. I like it!!!!🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤😂😂
6:14 why do I crave bright colored ice cream watching this? 😅
I just found your channel and subscribed - thanks for sharing your experience with gouache! Regarding dried gouache: I got a golden yellow from Lascaux, Caran d'Ache, and it works great when rewetted. Very creamy consistence. I got some student grade gouache tubes from Reeves, and they can be rewetted, but they are not opaque anymore then. With them I try to squeeze out as much as I need and then clean my palette...
Oh, I need to try that blending medium! I prefer working from dry just because I'm lazy and fearful of mold, but my Holbein crumbles so badly (especially the burnt umber).
Maybe try some other brands. I work from dried gouache too and found so far that my Winsor Newton, Royal Talens and most of my Art Spectrum paints don't crumble (aside from Art Spectrum Yellow Ochre, but I'm not sure if that's due to the pigment or brand). Some dry really hard and are a bit harder to rewet too. It's worth trying out some other brands to find a dry palette you're happy with. I agree, it's so much easier than trying to keep a wet palette going!
@Lena Donohue Thanks Lena. I might have to replace it for travel, but I was hoping to avoid buying new. My Schmincke gouache is much better behaved but I only have a couple colors and I know sometimes a specific pigment can be more poorly behaves (don't want to buy a bunch of crumbly browns 😆)
I set my dry gouache palette up in an art tool kit pocket palette and mixed in a little (drop or two) of glycerin after a recommendation on Instagram. The glycerin seems to have prevented the cracking and crumbling I was having trouble with, but I still haven’t tested this on WN primary red (which has been my worst color to crack and rewet).
Have you tried adding glycerin? I’m curious how the glycerin would compare to the blending medium.
No, I’ve only used glycerin in watercolor in the past. But I suspect the blending medium contains something similar.
I have some of my Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache and Schmincke Horadam gouache in a palette and I noticed that the Winsor & Newton gouache (a few earth tones and Ivory Black) dries out more and is harder to rewet but I like the convenience to have some gouache for on the go painting or painting small in a sketchbook. But it's good that I'm not the only person that is trying out a dry gouache palette.
Those earth tones tend to dry out faster in all brands in my experience. But I suppose the binder would make a difference too.
I have used my royal Talens gouache only a few times now (newbie) I put some drops of the colors I have on a porcelain plate but didn’t use it all. Because I didn’t want to waste it I kept using the leftovers the days and some weeks later. These were dried but still enjoyed using them. But I can’t really compare. You don’t need a palette, you can also use an old plate to keep you (dried) gouache ready to use.
Great to hear that! I have some too, I may try it when some of my colors run out.
I only use gouache for mandalas and I have used Arteza. I had some ceramic palettes where the colors dried completely. I used them over and over. I tried putting them in a plastic palette to keep and one of the colors got moldy so I never tried it again. I would like to learn to use gouache more so I'm really interested in your experiments.
I did buy that wet palette you have. Used it once plein air. Had no palette knife. What a nightmare! Made a hell of a mess! So glad I only put a couple of colours in it.
Then you changed to a dry palette. I was going to get that portable palette you use but I’ve bought the art toolkit one. Have you had any cracking issues? Why does that happen with gouache more than watercolour?
Really interesting, thanks. Have you tried bought dried pans like Caran D’ache? I’m wondering how they perform, re rewetting etc.
Yes I reviewed those recently - they are awful
I must have missed that, sorry 🙈 will go watch! Good to know though, they look a bit dubious to me, will stick with tubes then, 😊 thanks Sarah 😊
High sarah just a thought what about putting watercolour medium in your mister bottle for resetting your pallette
I guess that's possible, but I don't like the idea of it spraying everywhere, maybe a small dropper bottle is better