This week I was going to do an overview of my 30 day gouache challenge with a bit of a review of gouache itself thrown in there. However, I feel like I’ve hit my stride with gouache. And instead of breaking stride, I’m keeping it going. I extended my challenge to filling my sketchbook which is an additional 23 days/pages. The new paint I ordered last week also showed up this week and I’m super excited to use it.
In my paint order, I purchased a tube of M. Graham Burnt Umber to compare to the Winsor & Newton Burnt Umber I’ve been struggling with. It turns out that the issue I had with that color hasn’t been an issue with the M. Graham version. The problem was that it didn’t rehydrate well. The paint required a lot of scrubbing with a brush to rehydrate and still never fully rehydrated. It would become granulated and those dehydrated granules would stick to my brush and find their way to my art. When I would try to brush them off once the art dried, they would create marks where I didn’t want them. So I had to be extra careful removing them. For a color that I very frequently use I was prepared to deal with it if this was how the pigment behaved, but I’m grateful that isn’t the case.
Also, I didn’t notice this until after I purchased it, but the Winsor & Newton Burnt Umber isn’t a single pigment. For the life of me I don’t know why they added yellow (PY 42). I didn’t even check before buying because I’ve never seen anything but single pigment Burnt Umber before. It’s no surprise that the M. Graham single pigment version is darker. I will try to use up the Winsor & Newton in situations where I can use it straight from the tube, but I definitely won’t buy any more gouache from them. M. Graham for the win.
I try to buy single pigments as much as possible. My current collection of gouache only has two tubes of non-single pigment paints: Burnt Umber and Pyrrol Red. I was trying to find a different green to add to my collection, but almost all of the greens I looked at contained Phthalo Green which I already have. I found Terre Verte by Holbein that didn’t contain any Phthalo that I’m going to try out just because. It isn’t a single pigment though.
It is hard to compete with Phthalo colors. A lot of the blues I looked at were mixes of Phthalo Blue. But I’m thinking of getting a Cerulean Blue and Prussian Blue to round out the blues on my palette. I considered getting an Ultramarine Blue, but since getting Phthalo Blue in oils, I just haven’t used my Ultramarine Blue except to just use it up.
I have two reds (Napthol and Pyrrol), but I’m still not completely satisfied with my selection. I was thinking of adding a Magenta and Quinacridone Violet to give me the most range. I thought about Alizarin Crimson, but I couldn’t find a permanent version in gouache so I’ll be skipping it. Yellow Ochre would round out my yellows and the Silver and Copper metallic colors would go well with the beautiful Rich Gold I have from Holbein. I’m going to try to get some more Holbein colors since the gold rehydrated well and I’ve heard good things about them.
If you haven’t noticed, I’m definitely addicted to buying paint. I just wish it wasn’t so expensive. The best thing about gouache is that it’s nearly impossible to waste paint. I don’t feel bad if color sits in my palette seldom used because it will be ready to use as soon as I add water. I love it.
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