I finally got my hands on the Holbein Gouache, and I’m so excited to share with you my first look at it!

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A quick story about my previous gouache experience. I actually did attempt to paint with gouache a few years ago. But I made several mistakes:

First, I hardly did any research before purchasing. I have a tendency to buy things sometimes on impulse…. and it was definitely a mistake in this situation.

Second, I bought a really cheap brand because of my first mistake of not doing any research. I’m not saying that buying the most expensive brand is always the best, but once you do some research, you’ll have a better idea of what might be the best FIT for you.

My last and probably the biggest mistake was that I had squeezed them into a folding palette. And while gouache can be reactivated, it won’t be the same consistency as before. I had noticed that the paint dried so much, it cracked, and I found myself using my brush a bit too harshly in order to reanimate the paint again.

So what was the result of this brief gouache experience? Well, the paints didn’t produce good results. They got all cakey and dry like prunes in the palette. The paint dried chalky because it was of less quality. In the end, I gave up, I was frustrated, and I just kept going with watercolors … until today.

Why Choose the Holbein Gouache?

Over the holiday season, I was fortunate to receive a few gift cards. And I already had a wish list of art supplies. So gift cards + wish list… *cue heavens opening and angels singing*

I purchased the Holbein Gouache from Blick Art Materials, and they have a couple of different sets. I wasn’t able to find the set of 12 on Amazon, but here’s a link for a set of 18. Why did I choose the set of 12 over more colors? Well, just like watercolors, sometimes having too many colors is a disadvantage. I wanted to really know my paints and focus on learning how to mix and experiment with gouache. So I felt that 12 was a good number.

Now, while I’m experienced with watercolors, I know gouache requires a slightly different process. So if I make any huge mistakes here, please go easy on me. It’s sort of my first time trying to use them properly. 🙂

Watercolors vs. Gouache

Let’s briefly talk about what makes gouache similar and different from watercolors and get a little scientific.

Gouache and watercolors are similar in that they’re both water-based. Therefore, they can be rewetted and manipulated. So if you make a mistake, you can wet it, and scrub it off.

Now for the main difference: Watercolors are transparent and gouache is opaque. The transparency of watercolors is one of the reasons I love it so much. You can water down the color to the point where it’s basically see-through but still see a slight tint of color. There’s a luminosity to watercolor paintings. You can also layer colors on top and still see the underpainting.

The reason for this transparency is because watercolors have smaller, finer pigment particles which allows more light to shine through it and on to the paper, then bounce back the light into your eyes making the color transparent.

In gouache, the same pigment particles are larger, so there’s less room for light to shine through, and thus making the color opaque. That’s why gouache paintings have a flat and matte look to them.

You can still water down gouache to make it more transparent, but then you’d sort of be defeating the purpose of using gouache which is to take advantage of its opacity.

But because of this, some artists use both gouache and watercolors to create really vibrant paintings. Usually watercolors is used first, and then gouache applied on top. I think I’m excited to experiment and see how I can use both simultaneously, too.

Let’s see how the Holbein Gouache swatches!

First, I squeezed a tiiiiny amount of each paint color into the plastic palette.

Then, using just the water that’s on my brush, I wet the paint and filled in a 1″ rectangle with the highest opacity possible. I was curious about how it would look watered down, so that’s what the other rectangle is. So I swished my brush in the water cup, and painted another rectangle.

The paint dried very evenly, and I was impressed at how opaque it really is. Even when it’s watered down, it seemed to dry in a flat, but not muddy way.

Let’s paint some lemons and oranges

Let’s keep testing out the Holbein gouache by painting some citrus fruits like lemons and oranges.

I was really impressed by this first layer of the yellow and orange. The colors are so creamy and vibrant.

The real reason for painting these fruits was to test how the gouache layers. And it layers beautifully! Don’t forget you have to wait until the previous layer is bone dry. Otherwise, you risk reactivating the underpainting.

Watch the full video of my first look at the Holbein Gouache!

I’d love to hear from you! Do you paint with gouache? What kinds of questions do you have? I’d love to try and tackle them next time. Feel free to tag me (@AudreyRaDesign) on Instagram or Facebook and use the hashtag #PaintWithAudrey.