Ok, I really like this little painting and I’m starting to really enjoy gouache now. After painting in oil for so long I have finally adjusted my thinking when approaching a gouache painting and I think these planes of value are a great representation of how to approach the medium.
Oil paint is not always about blending, of course it can be achieved easily, but we all have seen many master works based on broken bits of color (Seurat, Van Gogh). So the great thing about oil paint is the easy in which you can achieve these methods but Gouache on the other hand is a bit more difficult.
Gouache is opaque and it dries almost instantly, but it can be blended, either by using washes or by re-wetting the already dried paint. I do love this about gouache, its easy to re-wet with a small amount of water on the brush and blend in small areas. But, I think the medium excels in distinct planes of value or color. Gouache kind of forces me to work this way, I look at a shape, analyze it’s qualities then put it down, then I go on to the shape next to it. It may seem a bit tedious to most, but I have always liked putting puzzles together…
My Setup of a Paper ball with planes of value
The paper ball
I sure like the idea of a balled up paper for a value study. Going to try that myself. using gouache for the first time. I like the simplicity and drying time, especially for plein air.