ROBERT’S TOP TIPS FOR EXPRESSIVE PAINTING WITH GOUACHE

● Don’t be mean with your paints. Mix more than you think you will need– It’s far better than running out half way through.

● Nothing is wasted. When finished, pour paint you don’t need from your mixes into jam jars (with lids) and keep for another day.

● Don’t paint with mud! Change your water regularly – it is essential for clean colour mixes.

● Don’t fiddle – if you do you’ll wish you hadn’t. Leave it alone and come back to it to see the exciting results of allowing the paint to do its thing.

● Buy the biggest brushes you can afford. Pro Arte have an excellent range of synthetic mixed-hair brushes, hakes and mops, ideal for gouache and water media painting. A big brush will enable you to achieve a big flat area of colour across the painting. Large long-haired brushes are essential for free-flow painting – shorter brushes don’t hold large volumes of pigment and you’ll continually be transferring paint.

● Choose the best artist-quality gouache paints. Student-quality paints may be cheaper but if you want brightness and the best pigments, artist-quality is your best choice.

● Experiment. Explore different effects on different papers. Compare one to the other. Cotton rag paper is stronger and more versatile – especially for lifting out, rubbing and manipulating the paint without the surface sloughing.

● Work at arm’s length, hold the brush at the opposite end to the ferrule and feel the balance of the brush. Stand to paint and use your whole arm, elbow and shoulder, not just your wrist. Try it – it’s a revelation!

● Set yourself a time limit. There’s nothing better than trying to beat the clock to get as much done in as short a time as possible – you paint more intuitively.