Brustro Artists Gouache Colour Set of 12 Colours X 12ML Tubes

Staining

You might start a painting with staining — that is, covering an area of the paper with a layer of paint to serve as the foundation for the rest of the painting. Often, staining uses a bit of gouache paint mixed with some water to create a thin consistency that can be swathed across the page.

Opaque Layers

Once you have the foundation of the painting, you can begin to layer in opaque elements. By using the paint without adding much water, you’ll achieve a rich, opaque colour that completely covers anything underneath it.

Wet-On-Wet

By first dampening your paper and then adding wet gouache to it, you will end up with soft shapes and blurred lines. This can be a good technique for backgrounds or bodies of water.

Dry Brushing

Dry brushing allows you to add texture to your painting. Simply pick up some semi-wet gouache paint with your brush, then brush most of it out. You should have only about 30 percent of the paint left on the brush. Then, quickly sweep the “dry” brush over your painting. You’ll achieve a feathered, almost ragged effect that can be used for texture, highlights, or backgrounds.

Bloom

Blooms — or irregular, splotchy, abstract areas of colour similar to something you might see in a watercolour painting — are easy to achieve with gouache. Load up your brush with water and a small amount of pigment. When you blot it on the paper, you’ll get little puddles of colour that spread and bleed in an abstract way. These can form an interesting background or foundation to build upon.

Reworking dry areas

A useful aspect of gouache paint is that it can be re-wet after it has dried. That allows you to rework elements of a painting and achieve some interesting effects.

Gouache 24 set

Gouache Colours

24 Gouache shades