Gwash...? What is that?

Gwash or Goosh or what is that?

Gwash or Goosh or What is that?

I had no idea what gouache (pronounced gwash)was a few months ago...I mean I had heard of it but never gave it any serious thought.  I knew illustrators used it..  I had a hard time even spelling it correctly..I was an oil painter and that was that.  Well, I'm beginning to doubt that...the two paintings below are of a little English Blue Willow pitcher I own.  For practice I decided to do one in Gouache and the other in oil.  What do you think?  

I won a small award last year at a show I was in and one of the prizes was a gift certificate from an art supply store online.  I really wasn't interested in their paint selections that much but they did offer a line of casein and gouache.  So I decided to try it.  Basically gouache is an opaque watercolor.  I began reading a little about it and seeing some other artist's gouache work and started thinking I might actually like it.  I'm not a fan of watercolor...acrylics are ok but dry dull to me (darker than when you apply them).  Well, I've been using these gouache paints now for a few weeks and they are fairly close to oils except for a few things, they thin with water, they are much more portable than oil and the paintings dry almost immediately.  For someone that loves to paint outdoors, plein air, it just might be a great fit and easier to use outdoors.  I'm still experimenting but this is one thing I'm doing to change things up and to try to excited about the process again.  Not sure yet where it will go.  

Thanks for reading my ramblings.  I'll be posting some of my new gouache paintings over the next few weeks. 

Blue Willow in Oil

Blue Willow in Gouache