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Inspired by some of my favorite bird artists of all time (Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Edwin Penny, Eric Ennion, etc.) I’ve decided to give gouache a try this year. Gouache is one of those nemesis mediums I’ve attempted to use multiple times in the past and every attempt ended in embarrassment. Here is a painting from my college days that was an assignment for a media experimentation class. We were told to render a red spherical object in light and shadow using gouache. Naturally I chose a cardinal.  Hopefully this painting illustrates not only how far I’ve come in rendering birds, but also the struggle I faced with the medium at the time. With transparent watercolor, highly saturated, light-valued colors are created by allowing the white of the paper to show through. No white pigment is required. With gouache however, you add white pigment just as you would in any other opaque medium such as oil and acrylic. The trouble is that white pigment in gouache kills the saturation more than it does using any other medium. Every hue goes chalky, cool, and dull, like the colors found in a pack of Neccos.  You can see how the orange Necco looks just like the orange in the highlights of my cardinal. I know there is a solution to the problem, because other artists have mastered it. James Gurney and Nathan Fowkes are two of today’s artists who excel in the medium.
Yesterday I decided to try a small study of a Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot, being the first bird I’ve painted entirely in gouache since my disappointing cardinal.  "Blue-fronted Amazon"- 7"x7"- Gouache While I still can’t seem to create the same intricacies in value and temperature shifts that are possible in watercolor, I was happy with the progress I made. Just as it takes years to master a language in order to say exactly what you want, I suppose it takes years to master a new medium. I’m invested in learning how to work gouache into my regular painting process, and hopefully you’ll see more from me soon.
3 Comments
1/19/2017 12:30:23 am
There is something timeless in your newest gouache piece, it feels like a page ripped right from a historic science text on parrots! Which is a high compliment in my book, I have in the last couple of years started using gouache to learn a new medium, and I am no where as talented as you are, so please please please keep updating your process and if you figure out the secret, throw me a bone! Amazing work Alex, I have nothing but faith in you to blow us all away with gouache.
Alex Warnick
1/19/2017 06:00:27 pm
Thanks Alan! That's a high compliment in my book, too! Your birds were one of the sources of inspiration for my new gouache exploration, so thanks! I'll definitely keep giving updates on my process as I start to become more comfortable with the medium. Hopefully that will be sooner than later! 11/9/2022 08:45:14 am
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