PAINTING CLOUDS WITH GOUACHE
Discover how to paint clouds in gouache with JUSTIN DONALDSON, who uses a wet-in-wet technique to capture a variety of edge qualities
Working as a fine artist. I use gouache, poster colour, oil and open-acrylics in my everyday adventure with painting. The only thing that I love nearly as much as painting is sitting down and pondering how paintings work on a fundamental level, and then how I can communicate these ideas with my many students. I’ve created a number of online courses around painting with gouache, and painting landscapes, and I have something up my sleeve that I have created just for you.
In this workshop I’ll show you some of the major ideas that I like to use when I’m creating landscape paintings in gouache, with a focus on cumulonimbus clouds. Clouds are a difficult subject to paint at the best of times. They’re full of a massive variety of edge qualities, from lost edges to hard edges. For those of us who use gouache, being able to paint consistently with soft edges provides a particular challenge since it’s the nature of gouache to dry very quickly. Don’t fear though – there are a few tricks that I’m going to show you in order to be able to combat this particular difficulty. While what I’m about to show you might seem simple at first, I want you to sit down, have a cup of tea, and ponder how you can apply these ideas to an even wider array of subject matter.
These cloud paintings are always something that I find great joy in creating and now you can take something useful from this in order to create your own joyful artworks. We’re going to dive into the relationship between gouache, paper, water and time, and come out the other end being able to paint more quickly, effectively and be able to maintain that soft-edge quality for extended periods of time! Gouache has the capacity to create immensely detailed and expressive work, and I implore you to spend the time to learn how to use the medium to its fullest extent!
I’m bringing these ideas to you from my little studio in Clemson, South Carolina, US. Go ahead and check out where I work. I find that a clean space, lots of plants and a touch of just the right music is required to really get into the zone. So grab a coffee and put on a tune, and let’s get into painting!
Justin is an Australian artist who works and lives in the US. He creates lush landscapes in gouache, acrylic and oil and loves to teach art. See more at www.justindonaldsonart.com.