“Immersion in Gouache” Workshop, November 1 -3, 2023

Goauche has been used for centuries among artists both by the 16th century artists (Albert Duer used it in landscapes), the Impressionists (Henri Matisse used it in Blue Nudes), western artist Maynard Dixon and many, many illustrators. While gouache has similar characteristics to watercolor and egg tempera, it is an opaque medium that is water soluable with a gum arabic binder. While it is a water medium like watercolor, its opaqueness makes it extremely forgiving and has become E. Melinda Morrison’s go to for creating smaller studies that can be used for larger works in oils and egg tempera. This workshop is designed to help the painter learn about the unique properties of gouache and learn to develop studies for use for larger works or using gouache as a medium for your final painting.

Utilizing a strong value structure and composition, color/temperature, edge control, unique shape and form in our paintings, we will focus learning on how to manipulate the gouache paint using water control in developing darks and lights for best results, which colors works best in a harmonious palette and learning the overall properties of this medium.  Students will learn paint application and brushwork, how to lose edges, how gouache responds to different surfaces when applying the paint, what best color choices in helping a painting “read,” and best practices in utilizing this very forgiving medium.  Additionally, students will learn about the variety of color choices for landscape and for figure. The final phase will be learning how to seal your gouache paintings.  We will also discuss the best painting setups for long term and short term use.

Students will work from photos provided by Melinda but can bring their own content as well.  Melinda will demo each morning for an hour and then work individually with each student throughout the workshop. The workshop is limited to 12 students. If the workshop is 7 or less, we will meet in Melinda’s studio, otherwise the workshop will be held at Broadway Baptist Church near downtown Fort Worth.

For registration, contact [email protected] or 303-881-1122.
A non-refundable deposit of $100 is required for registration.