I love these little paintings. They're wonderful. You probably know this by now, but just in case (and for anyone who doesn't know): If you're layering gouache you must go from a thin layer to a thick one. If you put a thin (more diluted) layer on top it will reactivate the one below and can get muddy. Also, when working with white, know that not all whites are equal. A primary white or zinc white are more translucent and made for mixing, while titanium white is more opaque and use for highlights. Gouache is definitely tricky to match, and blend, so anyone wanting to paint a large section should definitely pre-mix enough of that color. It's all a matter of practice, as you have demonstrated very nicely. :)
I loved this video. So fun to see your learning curve with a new medium. I have heard that using acrylagouache in your bottom later is really helpful so you don’t pick up the back ground color as much. The other tip is that when you had a brush struck on top of another color, try to do it in one stroke.
I've just started to experiment with gouache and this was sooo helpful! Mine were not expensive at all and it's helpful to learn that the problems I was having are a Gouache issue rather than something unique to my paints! Your learning will save me a lot of time and heartache. Thank you!! Your pictures are gorgeous, my favourites were the boat and the pot with the little rocks in front and the rocky dark background. Both of them really popped from the page and are in a style that I love
I can totally relate. I’m drawing a big blank right now. Unable to create anything. Not even ready to venture into my craft space. I’m glad you’re able to take short breaks and bring back the creative energy. Lots of love to you.
I put my watercolor tubes and gouache tubes inside ziplock bags just in case because I don't use the tubes often because right now both my gouache and watercolors are in palettes
A lot of artists say these palettes make their paints go moldy. ( Sarah Burns) however I have found if you use filtered water NOT tap water, that actually helps.
wow! amazing skills and beautiful paintings! I always enjoy your videos where you show us a bunch of paintings and reflect on them! I just bought a set of gouache and I can't wait to try a new medium!
Beautiful paintings! Love your reflection on your paintings since I am learning about gouache too. They resonate a lot with me. I would love it if you have videos of your gouache journey. Thank you!
Love you so much, Sandy and how real you are. I consider you one of the best teachers on TH-cam with your willingness to share both what turned out well and what you struggled with in your creativity. Started watching you some years back as a card maker, but I do enjoy watching your other painting videos as well. Thank you for your passion.
An ambassador for Daniel Smith?!! That’s delicious! I have not tried gouache. My favorite artists on TH-cam tube (including you) really like it. Love your paintings!
OMG you’re little sparrow painting is absolutely gorgeous! Wow, your blackberries, snow scenes, trees, and 99% of your paintings are amazing! I’m so glad I found your channel. I think it’s going to aid my painting learning journey.❤
god they are superb pictures that you have painted [ I,m a very beginner ], and I,m sorry you struggled with the paint but you definitely made it work and thanks for the insight
I love my jelly gauche. I got a little mixer so I can keep them in perfect shape. I lost mist them every two weeks. I couldn’t have afforded them from a tube.
This is pure gold 💛 I really appreciate all the tips and tricks about this medium, it’s very interesting to see the review for each painting and the demo at the end 🙌🏻 I’ve been using gouache for a while and I can understand how tricky it is to work with this medium, sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it 🤭🤣 but the more I use it, the more I understand how to work with it 😍 There is nothing left to do but practice and experiment on your own but it is still very helpful to see how someone else works on it. All your paintings are amazing, you have a very nice style of painting, it's the first time I've come across one of your videos but I want to tell you that I really appreciate everything you shared. Thank you so much ❤
Really interesting to watch. Thank you. I have come from gouache to trying out watercolour and the technique is so different regarding how much water is in the brush. Using gouache I often start with very watery wash-like colours and then build up with thicker paint. Leaving the paint to dry for 24 hours and being careful how you apply the next paint layer will usually stop the picking up of colour from the below layer - but it is tricky.
.Sandy, I am doing the same thing. I got Arteza Holbein and W-N govache. Kingart brushes and a new sketchbook just for gouache. It is so much fun! And so different than my usual watercolor. So thanks for having perfect timing. I found watching James Gurney taught me a lot about using the gonache in addition to watercolor for more realism. He does a lot of plein air which I don't do at all.
Thanks for sharing all this! I’m a watercolor painter too, who is thinking about trying gouache. Lovely paintings!! I think gouache would be easy to be too bright and cartoonish. I also have concerns about painting too stiffly with gouache. But your snowy cabin and sunset are beautiful with a loose feel. Have you heard of James Guerney? He does amazing plein aire in gouache. Ps: your bunny rock is crying for a bird on top, just no buzzards!
I reallllly enjoyed this, Sandy. I've been hemming & hawing over where to focus my art journey, and gouache was a strong contender. Like you, I want to do a deep(er) dive into one medium for the 100 day project. Watching this helped me decide to invest my time/$$, for now, for this year's 100 days, in NeoColor II watersoluable crayons ... however, listening to /observing your process for learning more about a new medium has been super enlightening and inspiring. Thank you! I suspect gouache will eventually find its way into my art journey, tho!
I hoped it might help a few folks clarify! I found from a lot of comments that people wanted to use Gouache because “it looks so easy” and “I can’t seem to get the hang of watercolor’s water management”….I was surprised to find the difficulty with just that thing. It IS fun and I’ll continue exploring. But it’s not the easy peasy thing I’d been led to believe 🤣
All your paintings are amazing! I understand the trial and error of changing mediums. I love oils because of the blendability of them, but, like when you used too much water, the colors next to each other often muddy the end product. But it's all good! As you said the point was to learn something, and you surely imparted a lot of knowledge here. TFS!
Love seeing the results of your journey! Beautiful (even if there were a few bumps along the way). I have been playing with gauche for a few years now. I like a dry palette for travel. I add a humectant to the paint before drying in the pans (usually in layers). You can use honey and/or vegetable glycerin (I use a combo plus a little gum arabic). Just a drop or two per half pan should do it - I add more to colors that dry harder. This prevents cracking and allows the paint to be re-wet much more easily. Caveat - adding too much will make the paint stay sticky (like M. Graham watercolors) and may make the paint shiny when dry, usually if used in a thick layer. Adding just enough to keep the paints from cracking is the perfect amount - it may take some trial & error. I also use a little of the mixture if the hardened paint starts to come out of a pan (ditto for watercolor) - it acts like a glue but does not harm the paints nor the lightfastness. I have a stay wet palette for the studio. If you haven’t already, I recommend checking out two artists who are experts in gauche - James Gurney and Sarah Burns (Sarah Burns Studio on TH-cam). James often uses a casein (milk based) paint for an under painting. It dries permanent. I bought some before moving to NZ but haven’t had a chance to use it yet. Hopefully soon!
I really must be using the wrong gouache, since I never find it a struggle to use, think it's the most easy art medium I've ever used and don't have an issue layering at all and painting things on top of other things.... regardless if it's a dark or a light color added. Gouache is very reliable, always does what it needs to do with very consistent and repeatable results. Your paintings are lovely.
I think it’s because I came from watercolor where I use a lot of thin washes. Since this video I’ve learned I was too “precious “ with the paint. Once i stopped worrying about using it up, things got a lot easier❤️
@@SandyAllnock1that makes sense, thanks for the explanation. I came from watercolor too, started with thin washes, but with every new layer went less thin, until almost pure in the final layers. That worked well and may indeed have been the difference.
If you decide to use some of your watercolor paintings to paint a gouache picture, perhaps you could do a video of the comparison of how the two look and when one might be better than the other. I would be interested in that! Also, I found that it was difficult to Learn to paint watercolor in reverse of all the other paint mediums and I have a concern that if I start painting in opaque gouache -in the reverse process of WC- that it may negatively affect my watercolor painting. Because I need to keep in my head the reverse process of trans. watercolor and I have finally gotten comfortable in that,I don’t want to unlearn and then struggle with having to think out watercolor again.
It’s frustrating that the under layer are staining the upper layers, the problem is that the under layer is being reactivated. This doesn’t happen with transparent watercolours, so painting a background wash with transparent watercolours would solve the bleed through. On the other hand, being able to reactivate Gauche can be an asset. Apologies if I’m trying to teach my grandmother to crack eggs!
LoL it's a matter of what technique you want, and if you want to switch mediums. Watercolor DOES lift, that's why we still have muddy paintings, just not as visibly as gouache. :)
@@SandyAllnock1 I'm just beginning to get into Gouache and looking at videos on TH-cam for how to use them before opening and swatching them and a class would be helpful.
Hi Sandy: I am a rank beginner with gouache... Are you using zinc white or titanium white? I think the titanium is more opaque? ( Just wondering if the more opaque white might layer better over the colours underneath? I watched an accomplished oil painter once tackle painting with gouache and she sort of laid her brush sideways to overlay colours Using a light hand... Just an observation I noticed while watching her paint. Thank you for your wonderful and informative videos. Your painting is beautiful.
I love these little paintings. They're wonderful. You probably know this by now, but just in case (and for anyone who doesn't know): If you're layering gouache you must go from a thin layer to a thick one. If you put a thin (more diluted) layer on top it will reactivate the one below and can get muddy. Also, when working with white, know that not all whites are equal. A primary white or zinc white are more translucent and made for mixing, while titanium white is more opaque and use for highlights. Gouache is definitely tricky to match, and blend, so anyone wanting to paint a large section should definitely pre-mix enough of that color. It's all a matter of practice, as you have demonstrated very nicely. :)
If you need to paint over something, I put down a heavy-ish white layer, let it dry, then paint the replacement color overtop.
So proud to see Blick and Utrecht brushes here! Utrecht is a Blick-exclusive brand!
I buy almost all my supplies from Blick!!
@@lechatbotte. We love hearing that!
I loved this video. So fun to see your learning curve with a new medium.
I have heard that using acrylagouache in your bottom later is really helpful so you don’t pick up the back ground color as much. The other tip is that when you had a brush struck on top of another color, try to do it in one stroke.
I feel your pain. I'm attempting to use gouache and am having trouble with the amount of water to use. FYI. I love the forest scene you did.
I've just started to experiment with gouache and this was sooo helpful! Mine were not expensive at all and it's helpful to learn that the problems I was having are a Gouache issue rather than something unique to my paints! Your learning will save me a lot of time and heartache. Thank you!!
Your pictures are gorgeous, my favourites were the boat and the pot with the little rocks in front and the rocky dark background. Both of them really popped from the page and are in a style that I love
Glad it was helpful!
I can totally relate. I’m drawing a big blank right now. Unable to create anything. Not even ready to venture into my craft space. I’m glad you’re able to take short breaks and bring back the creative energy. Lots of love to you.
I put my watercolor tubes and gouache tubes inside ziplock bags just in case because I don't use the tubes often because right now both my gouache and watercolors are in palettes
A lot of artists say these palettes make their paints go moldy. ( Sarah Burns) however I have found if you use filtered water NOT tap water, that actually helps.
She tested a variety of brands. A bunch had trouble. Daniel Smith did not. I've used it fir two years, zero mold ❤️
Wow these are beautiful paintings. You’re really good with gouache. I’m still practicing with mine. 😊
Thank you so much 😀
note to self..use cheap brushes not the expensive sable ones😛 love the waterfall!
Critical reflection is an important skill to learn to progress in any endeavor.
wow! amazing skills and beautiful paintings! I always enjoy your videos where you show us a bunch of paintings and reflect on them! I just bought a set of gouache and I can't wait to try a new medium!
Thank you! Cheers!
Beautiful paintings! Love your reflection on your paintings since I am learning about gouache too. They resonate a lot with me. I would love it if you have videos of your gouache journey. Thank you!
This was a great video - so many good tips for using gouache and I'm looking forward to more.
Glad it was helpful!
Love you so much, Sandy and how real you are. I consider you one of the best teachers on TH-cam with your willingness to share both what turned out well and what you struggled with in your creativity. Started watching you some years back as a card maker, but I do enjoy watching your other painting videos as well. Thank you for your passion.
An ambassador for Daniel Smith?!! That’s delicious! I have not tried gouache. My favorite artists on TH-cam tube (including you) really like it. Love your paintings!
So many great paintings! I appreciate you sharing your gouache journey. Thanks!
You are so welcome!
It was great to hear about your successes as well as your misses. Thank you so much for sharing your journey!
Love that spotlight effect in your first painting.
You make me almost want to try gouache again…maybe. Beautiful paintings!
OMG you’re little sparrow painting is absolutely gorgeous! Wow, your blackberries, snow scenes, trees, and 99% of your paintings are amazing! I’m so glad I found your channel. I think it’s going to aid my painting learning journey.❤
I’m glad you found me too! Welcome☺️
This is so helpful.
god they are superb pictures that you have painted [ I,m a very beginner ], and I,m sorry you struggled with the paint but you definitely made it work and thanks for the insight
Thank you very much!
Loved the video! I am learning gouache and this is very helpful!
I'm so glad!
I love my jelly gauche. I got a little mixer so I can keep them in perfect shape. I lost mist them every two weeks. I couldn’t have afforded them from a tube.
This is pure gold 💛 I really appreciate all the tips and tricks about this medium, it’s very interesting to see the review for each painting and the demo at the end 🙌🏻 I’ve been using gouache for a while and I can understand how tricky it is to work with this medium, sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it 🤭🤣 but the more I use it, the more I understand how to work with it 😍 There is nothing left to do but practice and experiment on your own but it is still very helpful to see how someone else works on it. All your paintings are amazing, you have a very nice style of painting, it's the first time I've come across one of your videos but I want to tell you that I really appreciate everything you shared. Thank you so much ❤
Thanks Jessie! More gouache coming up later in March 😍
Really interesting to watch. Thank you. I have come from gouache to trying out watercolour and the technique is so different regarding how much water is in the brush. Using gouache I often start with very watery wash-like colours and then build up with thicker paint. Leaving the paint to dry for 24 hours and being careful how you apply the next paint layer will usually stop the picking up of colour from the below layer - but it is tricky.
Water management is a bear-very different between the two😜
Wow, these are wonderful. Thank you for explaining the process! It is truly inspiring.
.Sandy, I am doing the same thing. I got Arteza Holbein and W-N govache. Kingart brushes and a new sketchbook just for gouache. It is so much fun! And so different than my usual watercolor. So thanks for having perfect timing. I found watching James Gurney taught me a lot about using the gonache in addition to watercolor for more realism. He does a lot of plein air which I don't do at all.
Gurney is awesome. Go look up Jared Callum too. 👍🏻
Oh my....what a lot of work and learning!!!!! TFS!
Great job and loved your self-critique/learnings! Thanks so much.
Thanks for sharing all this! I’m a watercolor painter too, who is thinking about trying gouache. Lovely paintings!! I think gouache would be easy to be too bright and cartoonish. I also have concerns about painting too stiffly with gouache. But your snowy cabin and sunset are beautiful with a loose feel. Have you heard of James Guerney? He does amazing plein aire in gouache. Ps: your bunny rock is crying for a bird on top, just no buzzards!
I reallllly enjoyed this, Sandy. I've been hemming & hawing over where to focus my art journey, and gouache was a strong contender. Like you, I want to do a deep(er) dive into one medium for the 100 day project. Watching this helped me decide to invest my time/$$, for now, for this year's 100 days, in NeoColor II watersoluable crayons ... however, listening to /observing your process for learning more about a new medium has been super enlightening and inspiring. Thank you! I suspect gouache will eventually find its way into my art journey, tho!
I hoped it might help a few folks clarify! I found from a lot of comments that people wanted to use Gouache because “it looks so easy” and “I can’t seem to get the hang of watercolor’s water management”….I was surprised to find the difficulty with just that thing. It IS fun and I’ll continue exploring. But it’s not the easy peasy thing I’d been led to believe 🤣
Really lovely work!
Thank you! Cheers!
Your paintings are beautiful. Listening to your video. I realized that you need to let the gauche dry before layering. Just like with acrylics. 😊
Yes, you are right…however even if dry, gouache will rewet and lift if you’re not careful. (And I’m not careful🤣)
@@SandyAllnock1 so true 😄
All your paintings are amazing! I understand the trial and error of changing mediums. I love oils because of the blendability of them, but, like when you used too much water, the colors next to each other often muddy the end product. But it's all good! As you said the point was to learn something, and you surely imparted a lot of knowledge here. TFS!
Beautiful, Sandy! Just missed the live but this is a fun upload to watch any time.
Just about the same here in Michigan
Thank you for this info about gouache. Most artists don’t talk about these differences. I can’t log into the auction, there’s no log in button
Love seeing the results of your journey! Beautiful (even if there were a few bumps along the way). I have been playing with gauche for a few years now. I like a dry palette for travel. I add a humectant to the paint before drying in the pans (usually in layers). You can use honey and/or vegetable glycerin (I use a combo plus a little gum arabic). Just a drop or two per half pan should do it - I add more to colors that dry harder. This prevents cracking and allows the paint to be re-wet much more easily. Caveat - adding too much will make the paint stay sticky (like M. Graham watercolors) and may make the paint shiny when dry, usually if used in a thick layer. Adding just enough to keep the paints from cracking is the perfect amount - it may take some trial & error. I also use a little of the mixture if the hardened paint starts to come out of a pan (ditto for watercolor) - it acts like a glue but does not harm the paints nor the lightfastness. I have a stay wet palette for the studio. If you haven’t already, I recommend checking out two artists who are experts in gauche - James Gurney and Sarah Burns (Sarah Burns Studio on TH-cam). James often uses a casein (milk based) paint for an under painting. It dries permanent. I bought some before moving to NZ but haven’t had a chance to use it yet. Hopefully soon!
I really must be using the wrong gouache, since I never find it a struggle to use, think it's the most easy art medium I've ever used and don't have an issue layering at all and painting things on top of other things.... regardless if it's a dark or a light color added. Gouache is very reliable, always does what it needs to do with very consistent and repeatable results. Your paintings are lovely.
I think it’s because I came from watercolor where I use a lot of thin washes. Since this video I’ve learned I was too “precious “ with the paint. Once i stopped worrying about using it up, things got a lot easier❤️
@@SandyAllnock1that makes sense, thanks for the explanation. I came from watercolor too, started with thin washes, but with every new layer went less thin, until almost pure in the final layers. That worked well and may indeed have been the difference.
If you decide to use some of your watercolor paintings to paint a gouache picture, perhaps you could do a video of the comparison of how the two look and when one might be better than the other. I would be interested in that!
Also, I found that it was difficult to Learn to paint watercolor in reverse of all the other paint mediums and I have a concern that if I start painting in opaque gouache -in the reverse process of WC- that it may negatively affect my watercolor painting. Because I need to keep in my head the reverse process of trans. watercolor and I have finally gotten comfortable in that,I don’t want to unlearn and then struggle with having to think out watercolor again.
I have a recent-ish video comparing the two with the same subject ❤️
I love your glasses. Did you get new frames? They look really good on you 😃. Great video, by the way 😃
Thank you for interesting demo! Can you use watercolor with gouache? I think about granulating colors which I think are not possible with gouache
Yes you can! Watercolor just has to go first.
Now I’m really interested! Thank you so much for showing gouache, I never really considered it as 27:36 ’serious’ medium 🎉
are you using Titanium white or Zinc white because they have different purposes
Titanium
It’s frustrating that the under layer are staining the upper layers, the problem is that the under layer is being reactivated. This doesn’t happen with transparent watercolours, so painting a background wash with transparent watercolours would solve the bleed through.
On the other hand, being able to reactivate Gauche can be an asset. Apologies if I’m trying to teach my grandmother to crack eggs!
LoL it's a matter of what technique you want, and if you want to switch mediums. Watercolor DOES lift, that's why we still have muddy paintings, just not as visibly as gouache. :)
Will you be offering a class on gouache?
Once I think I have a good handle on it yes but not soon 🤦🏼♀️ lots to learn!
@@SandyAllnock1 I'm just beginning to get into Gouache and looking at videos on TH-cam for how to use them before opening and swatching them and a class would be helpful.
Hi Sandy: I am a rank beginner with gouache... Are you using zinc white or titanium white? I think the titanium is more opaque? ( Just wondering if the more opaque white might layer better over the colours underneath? I watched an accomplished oil painter once tackle painting with gouache and she sort of laid her brush sideways to overlay colours Using a light hand... Just an observation I noticed while watching her paint. Thank you for your wonderful and informative videos. Your painting is beautiful.
Titanium. Pretty sure it’s user error with the water.