Jo is an acclaimed artist and a highly experienced tutor who will introduce you to Gouache painting.

This workshop is suitable for beginners or experienced artists who wish to explore this versatile medium.

Gouache is opaque watercolour. It is a very user-friendly medium that enables correction and reactivation with water which makes it ideal both for studio work or when traveling.

In this workshop participants will use only 5 colours and will initially explore the range of colour possibilities before completing one or two small paintings ready for framing.

This workshop is suitable for beginners as well as experienced artists who are unfamiliar with this medium or just want to explore the possibilities of gouache.

Participants will complete at least one postcard sized painting of selected flowers or foliage. They may work from direct observation or from photographs on their phones. The attention is not necessarily on botanical accuracy. If preferred, artists could use the colours and shapes of the flowers as inspiration to create abstracted designs.

This workshop will cover composition, viewpoint, colour selection and all considerations required to make successful gouache paintings.

Individual help will be given as required.

Materials List:

Jo will supply the matt boards or illustration boards cut to size for the finished works.

What you should bring:

• A sketch book or scrap cartridge paper for colour mixing exercises and testing colours.
• A pencil to plan your composition or if you wish you may use your smart phone camera and its cropping tool to help you determine your viewpoint.
• Water jars: Bring three small jars such as light-weight, plastic soup containers or cream jars. Some water jars will be available at the venue but please bring some of your own.
• Gouache: Gouache is available in many brands. Jo mostly uses Art Spectrum Gouache. NB - You can reuse dried gouache later as the mixed colour becomes like block paints.

The basic colours suggested are -

• AS Art Spectrum White
• Pthalo Blue
• Primary Red
• Primrose Yellow
• Raw Umber. (You can mix most colours with this combination including making good purples, greens and oranges as well as wonderful darks.)
• Brushes: Bring three small flat Taklon brushes. You will not require brushes larger than 1cm as we are completing small works. If you already have small brushes bring them. You will also need a small a small round brush for your signature and details. Mont Marte Gallery Series Acrylic Set of four brushes is ideal and available from $2 Shops for about $5.
• Watercolour palette: Jo uses take away container lids. Bring the bottom too and this can contain smaller plastic lids such as the tops of your soup containers. I like to mix similar hues on the one lid.
• Protective items: Apron or old shirt