Australian Artist August 2006

Australian Artist August 2006

By Lilianna

After my painting studio lesson today, as I was coming back home on the bus carrying all my stuff, when it dawned on me HOW MUCH stuff I was carrying! Upon starting the painting course I thought a set of acrylic paints and few brushes would be enough to keep me going... well not really. Today I felt more like a camel or a packhorse.... My bag was filled with huge bottles of acrylic paints (the usual size set would only last one lesson), cans of glaze, water containers, around one kilogram of brushes and not to mention a few paintings (it was assessment day). I thought it was about time I read up about different mediums and techniques.

I picked up the August issue of “Australian Artist” which contains a few interesting tutorials about painting techniques. Among these is painting with gouache...The article mentions that it is very suitable for traveling artists (such as myself - read above!) and as a medium is very forgiving. I have personally used it previously as a graphic artist, but I realised my knowledge of it was kind of limited. Artist Walter Magilton shares few upsides and downsides of gouche in his article:

The advantages are that you only need a very simple kit- brushes, paint, watercolour paper, water and sponge plus there are no smells, dirty rags and it is also easy to make changes.

The disadvantage of gouache is the very quick drying time – this could be the problem, not giving much time if blending is necessary... but this too can be an advantage.

I though this might interest people who plan to go out painting on the field (so to speak) during the school break.

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