Chapter 13

Gouache

Like watercolor, gouache is water-soluble, not water-resistant, and dries to a matte finish. Dry gouache will reactivate to malleable wet paint when water is added. Despite these similarities, the technique of painting with gouache is very different than that of watercolor.

Gouache is opaque and much thicker than watercolor. Whereas a layer of watercolor reveals and visually blends with a layer below it, a layer of gouache completely conceals all layers underneath, because gouache sits on the surface of the paper and other paint layers rather than soaking in. A layer of gouache applied over the same color paint will look exactly like the first layer, while a second coat of the same color will darken the value of the hue when ...

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