Gouache & the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
I’m incredibly happy that four of my paintings have been selected for the upcoming exhibition of the institute. For the fourth year, being selected feels like a big encouragement in my development with the medium.
Here’s a little retrospective on how much I’ve enjoyed pushing this part of my practice in correlation with the Institute’s support, and some general thoughts on why I love this medium so much!
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, 210th exhibition
14.04 to 23.04, 10am to 5pm
17 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5BD
New year meant new application for the upcoming RI shows: I work much better with deadline so I took this opportunity to produce many gouache paintings. Here are the six I applied with (four got selected).
Self-portrait with two palettes, (left) selected
I often rest my head on my right hand and enjoy seeing how the shapes merges and interlock. I took a picture and worked from it this time. I decided to go for two different limited palettes within this one painting: basically warmer primaries for the shadows, and cooler more electric ones in the light. I didn't have my (physical) palette with me so I squeezed the pigments in the corner of the sheet and mixed directly on the yupo; I liked the immediacy of this set up! And particularly enjoyed working with gouache at this scale, slightly bigger than my usual in this medium.
Self-Portrait at 6yo (right) selected
Then came a second self-portrait, this time from a picture my parents took when I was..six years old I imagine. The reference encouraged me to swap the blue in my limited palette for a green - and play out the green/red combination suggested by the warm jumper.
Sara and her sketchbook (left) selected
Third painting done from life at the Barbican, catching up with my friend Sara while she drew in her huge sketchbook. I loved how the late afternoon winter light balanced with the warmth of the indoor space.
Family photo (right) selected
I regularly use my childhood photograph in my painting practice and I felt compelled to work on this one. The colours fitted a Zorn palette (black, red, yellow ochre and white). Another opportunity to think about family and memories, how things fit or don’t. I chose to off set the colours on my brother and I, incrementally separating us from the previous generation. For my young self I actually pushed the green further than the limited palette and used watercolour. I wanted to paint both the connection of the gestures and the disconnect of some inner feelings.
Reclining figure (right) not selected
The following week I finally went back to life drawing (I think it was the first time since the pandemic started) I can't tell you how happy. Lydia held this beautiful reclining pose for two hours. This gouache was made during the first half - initially using the medium transparently (as watercolour) to get the gesture in, then more opaque to get shapes of colours and light like in a jigsaw puzzle and ultimately some more fluid marks to reinforce the structure through lines.
Self-Portrait, current and left behind (below) not selected
The last piece I submitted is composed of six small gouache paintings of my right hand. As you can read in the blog on my hands, they no longer look like they did when I first came, many surgeries have changed their appearance over the year, which has been a real challenge. And I’ve always been sad not to have clear memories and pictures of how they used to look like. I wanted to explore how paint could help me go back in time. I started by painting my hand as it looks now, working from life. And then attempted to paint my hand as I remembered it before each surgery, left to right going backwards. Unfortunately the memories got more and more blurry as I go towards my younger years, so I tried to stay true to this feeling and leave this ‘first self-portrait’ more elusive.
On the left are the three paintings that were selected for my first time in the RI annual exhibition in 2019.
I remember how surreal it felt; I was only starting to explore the medium. The idea of ‘being an artist’ felt way more like a dream than a possible career. Being selected really helped me envision a practice beyond my studies, and also encouraged me to bring gouache out of my sketchbook and onto ‘proper’ surfaces and paintings. I was particularly enjoying the immediacy of gouache and a feeling of playfulness I was getting out of it, and felt very supported in developing both aspect thanks to this external validation.
Here is the gouache that made it to last year’s exhibition in 2021. This first winter under the pandemic was very challenging and I was struggling to create, but the RI deadline felt like a good opportunity to try depicting this conflicting state of being very low mentally while feeling simultaneously very grateful for my home.
2020, the year in between the two submissions above was key. Four of my paintings had been accepted and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read that the painting Suzy (here to the right) had won the Leatherseller’s Award.
It felt like a very important milestone in my development, which once again had mostly to do with me believing a little more in myself and my work thanks to this recognition.
When painting those works I once again aimed to tap into the immediacy and playfulness of the medium; exploring a broader ranger of mark making thanks to the use of yupo paper. This plasticky surface was making the gouache behave differently, from the wateriness of watercolour to the viscosity of oils. It is also a surface that doesn’t tolerate much overworking so there was a sense of instantaneity in the process and commitment to my marks.
I really enjoyed painting them and exploring childhood photographs for this opportunity, and I was chuffed to bits to win a Prize thanks to it.
With fellow artist Richa Vora who bought my tiny self-portrait during my first RI Private View
Applying for Candidate
This year, I was also invited to submit my application to become a member. For this I had to present a bigger body of work and reflect on that the institute meant to me. I was not successful but drew a lot of pleasure from preparing the application.
I know become a member is a lengthy process ad I trust the jury’s decision on that; it’s not for now. Being ‘rejected’ is a regular part of our practice but this time it didn’t feel as such; I’m still incredibly grateful that four paintings were accepted this year again and I can only feel supported in my career from this. Onward and upward I hope. I, for sure, won’t stop painting!
Appearing in the 2020 RI catalogue next to my Awarded painting Suzy
Some first gouaches,
in my sketchbook
Teaching
I’m so passionate about spreading the love for this lesser known medium! I’m now teaching gouache alongside a more traditional use of watercolours.
Amusingly, gouache was probably the first paint we were given in French school. The low toxicity of the medium makes sense, it’s also rather affordable, very easy to transport and clean. I also find it does not hold the same daunting preconceptions attached to watercolours or oils.
For me this makes it an ideal medium, which can be explored with no previous technical knowledge while also fitting the precision of thorough training.
The range of mark making and use of gouache also makes it incredibly versatile: it can be use for very quick and gestural marks (perfect for life drawing, or little cards like the flowers on the right) or fit slower approaches for more controlled works. Learning to play with opacities and colour mixing makes it an ideal medium no matter the subject; it can be an opportunity to make paintings about light, about colours, patterns…and anything drawing or attention in the moment.
How to put it simply? I love gouache and opportunities to teach it!
Commissions
I’m always so grateful for those of you who grant me their trust with commissions! When Wilson approached me for the portrait of Minnie (on the left) I fell in love for all the colour I found in the fur and it felt so logical to use gouache to depict it best (oil is wonderful but nothing like gouache for beautiful saturation I’ve found!). As I mentioned, painting on yupo paper also forces the marks to stay very present and not to overwork; with commission work that leads to quite some tension in the process but what a joy seeing it come together!
Midnight’s portrait (on the right) was a wonderful opportunity to revisit the process, this time with the added challenge of finding colour shifts within this dark fur, retaining the highest saturation for only a few pockets of light reaching from the window.
I loved painting them so much! Feel free to contact me if you’d like anything similar!
Gouache & Oils, playing with surfaces
I was told gouache could not go on top of oil. Which makes sense in term of physics, this water based medium doesn’t this well on oily surfaces. And that’s exactly what I love about it! So I’m being naughty and going against the rules, enjoying the resistance thus created!
I love painting on surfaces that don’t let the gouache sink and dry fully, board yupo paper or even linen. And some other times I use the gouache on top of works that was started in oils or as an intermediate layer. It forces me to be very intentional with my marks, to put heavier quantity of paint and once again to not over work. Laid on top of oils, it helps me restate the saturation, simplify some marks and develop textured surfaces in ‘not so controllable’ ways!
I’m looking forward to developing my use of the medium, to keep playing with surfaces and mark making and to encourage more people to do so!