Painting with Gouache: Lesson 1 – The Wash.

A simple exercise to become familiar with the texture and flow of the paint when mixed with water.

For this you will need:

  • watercolour paper (scrap will do well enough.  Back side of old paintings.)
  • watercolour pallette or shallow plastic dish to mix a wash.
  • brushes to apply the wash and an old brush for the masking fluid.
  • jar of clean water.
  • selection of paints.
  1. Any scrap paper is good for this exercise.
  2. Mix a small amount of paint as a thin wash.  Apply this as you would for water colour across the top of the paper as a graduated wash allowing it to blend as you go down.
  3. Now wet a portion of paper and drop the paint onto the paper.  Move the paper to assist with the direction it is to spread. 
  4. If there are spots of colour on the paper the paint has not been mixed well.  However this effect can be very interesting depending on what you want to achieve.
  5. Mix other colours and repeat the process. 
  6. Draw a light shape on the paper and using the old brush, cover it with masking fluid.  Do not apply too thickly or too thinly. Allow to dry.
  7. Wet the paper and apply a wash.  This can be a more intense colour. Allow to dry.
  8. When completely dry, peel away the masking.  It should come away like a skin but it can be rubbed off carefully with your fingers. (there are erasers you can buy for this purpose).
  9. The shape is now ready for painting.
  10. Now is the time to play with the paint and see what it can do as a watercolour.

HINT:  Moisten the old brush and coat the bristles with bar soap.  This should be reasonably dry.  It will make washing the masking fluid from the brush much easier and prolong the life of the brush. 

Lesson 2 will involve dry brush work.