On Painting with Gouache

As I may have mentioned in an earlier Blog, the most popular page of my website is a discussion of how I paint with Gouache.

Starting in the middle of the nineteenth century and continuing through the middle of the twentieth century, most European & American artists painted in Gouache at one time or another in their careers.

Throughout the twentieth century commercial artists used Gouache widely. This association with commerce caused many contemporary artists of that period to avoid its use. And, until recently, few fine artists used Gouache.

Much of my early work was in watercolor. To increase the boldness of the colors I started intermix Gouache with my transparent watercolors.

This technique, with its resulting strong colors and sharp contrast, appealed greatly to me. Also, at about the same time, I started using a varnish finish and doing away with protective glass and its reflections – a big plus.

Maybe the general interest today in Gouache painting is due to it still being some what unusual. Now, I mostly paint in oil. But for some years I painted in Gouache, and produced many fine paintings.

I have been gradually enriching that web page on Gouache techniques with additional material and illustrations. Also, I have been adding to my website examples of my Gouache period paintings, with links from the popular web page to my web galleries of the Gouache paintings.

As I refine my web page, perhaps some visitors will look beyond that and see some of my more recent work.