A shaggy tree on a fresh Spring morning, with South Bath in the distance beyond. I’ve been exploring gouache paints, enjoying the way their intensity suits the new season’s colours and light. Here I’ve used coloured paper which helped to give the picture some additional zing.

The most striking difference between gouache and the translucent watercolours I usually use is the ability to paint strong colours on top of each other. This allows a more direct  approach, with little planning, and it’s more forgiving if you make a mistake. But there are also strong similarities between the two, and I’m trying to use a similar 6 colour palette,  with titanium white instead of one of the yellows.

The best online gouache resources I found are at Roz Stendahl’s website and I’m now trying to work out how to create a portable gouache palette…

Winsor and Newton gouache, water-brush, Canson Mi Teintes paper, A5