Gouache, through thick and thin

Gouache is designed to be opaque, and that is probably the way you have mostly seen it used. Remember those old posters with their flat matte colours? They were often painted in gouache, but gouache can also be thinned down, making it transparent and much more like watercolour. I love the effect you achieve when you use the two techniques together: opaque and transparent. This involves making different strength mixes of paint, often helped by the addition of white.

Test your colour mixes before you paint to make sure that you