Wallace Seymour (Pip Seymour) Artists’ Gouache

The term "gouache" is the French equivalent of the Italian "a guazzo" meaning, literally, "a muddy pool". In English, traditionally, gouache paints are also known as "body colour", being watercolour with a heavier body, where all colours are rendered with equal opacity. Typically, gouache paints are derived by the pigment into gum arabic, with certain colours 'filled' with blanc fix - or the like - to achieve opacity and a flat, matt paint film when dried. In recent years, some manufacturers haveintroduced gouache paint systems based on acrylic polymer emulsion mixed with a starch binder, thus providing a more flexible dry paint film. In essence, gouache colour is a form of opaque watercolour. In true watercolour technique, chinese white is sometimes added to the more transparent colours to increase the opacity; gouache is the next logical step, with all the colours in each range mixed with a low-tinting-strength white. Barium Sulphate - which is blanc fix - is the usual. As Pip Seymour points out, the real fun begins for the artist when combining watercolour and gouache, giving transparent areas from the former, and opaque areas from the latter. Write Here are pleased to be stockists of Wallace Seymour gouache paints.