Watercolour Vs Gouache
When people first begin painting florals, one question that comes up quite often is whether watercolour or gouache is “better.”
I can understand why it comes up, because they can feel quite similar in some ways. Both are water-based mediums, both can be diluted with water, and both can be used to create beautiful floral paintings. But once you start working with them more, you begin to notice that they each have their own qualities, and they can also behave quite differently on the page.
Watercolour
Watercolour is known for its transparency. It’s lovely for creating soft washes, delicate layers, and that light, airy feeling where the paper still shows through. It has a very fluid quality to it, and part of why I like it is that it often moves in ways you can’t completely control. I also love how the colours merge into each other so easily within the watery areas, and that’s something you can’t achieve with oil or acrylic. However, you can get similar effects with gouache…and depending on how you use gouache, you wouldn’t be able to tell.
Gouache
Gouache, has a stronger, creamier quality, and can create much richer colour on the page, so we say that it is more opaque. Because of its opaqueness, it’s often easier to build up layers, add details on top with a lighter colour, and create areas that feel more solid and defined. What I love about it though is that it still works really well with water, you just need a little bit on your brush and if you’re using it fresh from a tube I would mix some on a mixing plate or palette with a bit of water first to dilute it down a little but I would say that it gives you a little more coverage and intensity compared to traditional watercolour.
In all honesty, I don’t think I could fully choose between the two, because I genuinely love using a mixture of both. I even mix both together!
When I first started painting, I was working almost entirely with watercolour. I loved how fluid it felt, especially for florals. There was something so beautiful about how light and delicate everything could feel. But I was struggling to achieve the richness I wanted in my paintings. My florals sometimes looked a little washed out and dull in colour, and even when I tried to build up more colour, I found it difficult to get that depth and vibrancy I was looking for.
It wasn’t that watercolour couldn’t create beautiful depth, but I think I was still learning how to control pigment, water, and layering. And at that stage, I often felt like I couldn’t quite get my paintings to look as full or bright as I wanted them to. That’s what first led me towards gouache.
When I started using gouache, I noticed quite quickly that my flowers looked brighter and more vibrant. The colours felt stronger, and I found it easier to create that richness I had been missing.
What I particularly love about gouache is that it doesn’t have to be used in a heavy or opaque way all the time. You can use it quite similarly to watercolour by adding plenty of water, which creates a softer, more fluid effect. But when you want a bit more intensity, you can use less water and allow the colour to sit more strongly on the page - that versatility is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much.
For me, it’s not really about deciding that one medium is better than the other. Watercolour has a beautiful softness and gouache has a richness. Both have their place, and both can teach you something valuable about how you like to paint. I think experimenting with different mediums can be really helpful!
In fact, by allowing myself to experiment, I also discovered watercolour ink, which I absolutely love (but I’ll leave that for another post). Sometimes it’s just about trying out different mediums, you might surprise yourself with what you like!