Fearless Friday, Still Life in Gouache
I am experimenting with Gouache painting
Gouache is an opaque watercolor medium
It thins with water to make a wash like watercolor,
or can be applied directly
When applied with just a little water it is not transparent,
similar to acrylic
I used this is inexpensive set
For our painting today,
I chose this still life of apples and grapes from Pixabay,
a free photo source
I also used another photo of an apple painting,
from Ali Kay Studios, as inspiration
I like the bold use of colors and strokes
I started out painting the apple and grape shapes
I changed the wood bowl the grapes are spilling from into 4th apple
I varied the tones of the grapes by diluting the color
with different amounts of water
Next I painted the dark spaces between the fruit and stem areas,
and refined the grapes with more layers of color
A pale gray wash grounds the fruit
Next came bold strokes of color for highlights
Background leaves
I painted the background with washes of green and blue
and learned that gouache washes don’t behave
as well as watercolor washes
Yikes, I was thinking, how am I going to save this??
I kept working on blending the washes better
and added white highlights
I decided to add more leaves to the plant,
and wanted them to begin to fade away
so I drew them with a broad tipped green marker
I also indicated a window in the background
and increased the intensity of the white high lights
with a white paint pen
“Apples & Grapes” 6″ x 5″ gouache and marker on cold press 140 lb. watercolor paper
Happy Painting!
Be Fearless!
I will be joining these fabulous parties and blogs:
Sundays on Silverado/ Love Your Creativity
What’s for Dinner/ Between Naps on the Porch
All About Home/ Common Ground & Follow the Yellow Brick Home
Turn About Tuesday / Our Tiny Nest / Karin’s Cottage Linky Party
Creative Crafts / Crafty Creators
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Beautiful Jenna! Love the addition of the window in the background. Happy Friday ♥
Thank you Mary, happy weekend!
And it magically appears through your talented fingers!
Thank you Dorothy 🙂
I occasionally mix gouache and watercolor, especially with certain colors or in certain situations. (And it can make a good cover-up for a boo boo, too!)
I’m still learning, not sure if I like it or not! Acrylic is still by far my favorite 🎨
How lovely Jenna! Love the technique. You made it happen so effortlessly.
Happy Weekend to you! ❤️🤍💙
Thank you Nancy, not sure if I like this medium or not, still experimenting!
You are so good at rescuing “surprises”. The result is great!
Thanks Linda, it was definitely a rescue situation!
Beautiful as always. Happy Weekend at the beach with your beautiful family ♥️🇺🇸💙
Thank you Pam! The weather here is amazing!
Always full of interesting tips – lovely work!
Thank you Mary 🙂
Beautiful Jenna, and I love how you “rescued” the painting. I’m always in awe of your talents! The paint itself looks interesting – almost like oil or something?? I hope you and your family had a lovely weekend in paradise!
Thank you Kim. Painting with gouache is out of my comfort zone, but I’m trying! We did have a lovely weekend, the weather was perfect and some of us are still here enjoying for the rest of the week 😎