Rei asks:
Yes you can, Rei, absolutely! I always mix different brands of gouache.Not only can you mix different brands of gouache, but you can also mix your gouache with watercolors. They're all water based, of course, and both the gouache and watercolors use the same binder, which is gum arabic.
I sometimes start a picture in transparent watercolor and bring in the opaque gouache gradually as I need it, to cover up mistakes, add accents, or flatten passages.
I have even combined transparent watercolor pigments with acrylic matte medium to create an impermeable glazing layer over a casein painting. But be careful of your brushes if you use any acrylic, casein, or cel vinyl in any mixture because those binders will wreck a brush if it dries with paint on it. As always, I'd recommend that you do experiments on test scraps and see what happens with different combinations.
As for which brands to mix with your primaries, I would recommend Holbein's gouache set, M. Graham's watercolor or gouache sets, or the gouache set by Daler Rowney. To read more about kinds of gouache, check my previous post: Gouache Ingredients from Manufacturers.
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PDF of Recommended Gouache Materials
I"ll take 'em all, thank you!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I recently tried mixing gouache with acryla gouache and it works too, as expected. I guess the reason to do this would be to have a layer that is water resistant so that future washes don't lift pigment from it (say, for the sky) and one has only a limited palette of acryla gouache.
ReplyDeleteMistakes? There are no mistakes but "happy incidents". :) :)
ReplyDeleteThank you James, I to occasionally start my paintings with transparent watercolors then the amazing M. Graham brand of gouache, as well as the great Da Vinci brands of gouache then comes the Holbein brand of acrylic gouache. Finally I finish with both water soluble oils and traditional oils.
ReplyDelete