Acryl Gouache

For years, you have listened to me complain that I have too many acrylics and that I have yet to bond with them (no pun intended). Well, I may have just inched forward to a closer relationship with an "acrylic" medium. Acryl Gouache. A compromise between acrylic and gouache.

Traditional gouache is opaque, matte watercolour – so like watercolour it is re-soluble, not water resistant. Acryl Gouache has characteristics of both acrylic and watercolor. It is opaque and matte, quick-drying, water-mixable and water resistant once dry (so multiple layers can be over-painted with no bleeding or streaking). 

I love the matte look of gouache and I love the water-resistant-once-dry attribute of acrylic. I tried Acryl Gouache recently when reworking an old pastel painting. 

This is "Woodland Path," 2018, one of my paintings in my "From the Heart" series - paintings done from memory, no reference photo used. I should mention that the paper is Wallis which can take tons of abuse. When a slight rework using pastel didn't work, I took the painting into the laundry room, held it over the sink and sprayed it with water until all I had was ghost image of the old painting.

I mixed acryl gouache into a dark blue/green color and indicated a new scene based on the little black and white photo reference.

Then using a very light blue (mostly white) I indicated the lightest areas.

Using these colors, I applied pastel over the acryl gouache. 

Backroad, mixed media, 13x12.5 inches

©2020 Barbara Benedetti Newton

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