Holbein Acrylic Gouache Review

 

This winter I enjoyed playing with the new 5 Color Holbein Acrylic Gouache set while always looking for a product that performs well with multi-media artworks, adding pens & watercolor. It turns out that Holbein Acrylic Gouache has unique attributes that combine the durability of acrylic paint with the matte surface quality of traditional water-based gouache.

As a curious and experimental person by nature, I am always looking to try something new, fresh, and exciting, like taking up flamenco dancing... I digress, these days the only toe-tapping is listening to music while doing art! 

To spice up my creative world, I will purchase new art products, always looking for the magic combo that can tackle my experimental explosions on a firm yet forgiving surface, THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM, but I continue to pursue its possibilities.

Color Mix Charts for 

Holbein Acrylic Gouache with 3 basic colors & white & black:

Primary Magenta, Primary Yellow, Primary Cyan

When I acquire new mediums, I like to create color charts on heavy photo printing paper, which I purchased at a clearance store years ago. It has a shiny surface that appears to withstand considerable abuse in most media without issue, except for watercolor, which requires specific watercolor paper due to its staining properties. 

I use my 23-year-old Staples purchase, a Swingline GBC machine, to make reference booklets. I found a similar one to mine on Amazon now for a much better deal than I could get at Staples. It punches out the comb-style edges that fit into the comb spines, which come in different colors and widths. This machine is such a valuable tool for anyone who likes to keep notes or print off recipes, as I often do, and categorize them into their own booklets using clear plastic covers purchased from Staples. 

I keep all my painting charts for products purchased as well. I create a paint palette color chart for each painting as part of my preparation. 

Great idea for future reference for collectors, in case the collected paintings need conservation 200 years from now, or for forgery checks... wink-wink, you never know!

View some samples of paint palette charts for the oil painting 'Tipping Point'.

REVIEW with Holbein Acrylic Gouache Paint:

• Right away, I liked the FEEEEEELLLLL of this smooth, creamy butter easily rolling off the brush onto the surface.
• ADDING ACRYLIC MEDIUMS can get a semi-transparent quality using the glazing technique. 
• Build up texture intentionally using layers of scumbling technique over other dried layers.
• Being acrylic paint, I was wondering if pencils, charcoals, and especially pens would mark the surface film of this style of gouache, and it performed well with other mediums.
• Working with this creamy medium that glides off the brush evenly is an absolute delight. The satisfaction of seeing the colors blend and the texture come to life on the canvas is truly rewarding. It's moments like these that remind me why I love creating art.
• ONLY one negative... the PRICE... toooooo expensive to make this paint the only paint to go onto large formats unless relying on other mediums like watercolor to back it up for coverage in the composition.

To get an idea of how far this 5x 20ml each tube will go... I have used about half of the volume in the Holbein Acrylic Gouache 5 set, which is sufficient for the coverage required to create the 3-color charts and the two following paintings, combined with watercolor. 

I had only three primary colors, along with black and white, to create all the other colors, so they get used up quickly when making secondary colors like greens, reds, oranges, and purples. Using the primary set of Primary Magenta, Primary Cyan, and Primary Yellow will produce any color one wants to mix, but requires large tubes of these three colors to create all your colors, or will run out of tube paint quickly. 

NOTE: The Holbein Acrylic Gouache dries quickly, like any acrylic paint on the palette, unless you have a moist palette to keep it out longer. I will share a DIY idea for making a wet palette at the end of this blog post.

PINK Waterlily: Holbein Acrylic Gouache with watercolor 

& White Uni-Ball Signo Broad Pigment ink Pen

 5"x7"

My first painting trial involved using Fabriano hot-press watercolor paper with a previous waterlily watercolor painting, and I decided to layer it with Holbein acrylic gouache.  I also added watercolor to the wet acrylic gouache to see what happened, and the two mediums mixed together very cohesively.

CLOSE-UP of Pink Waterlily: Holbein Acrylic Gouache highlighted with 

White Uni-Ball Signo Broad Pigment ink Pen (made in Japan) 

I like to add hints of spice, and I was happy to see the White Uni-Ball Signo Broad Pigment ink pen glide smoothly over the top of the Holbein Acrylic Gouache, even though the surface was textural. Yet, it still went down smoothly, so thumbs up for the performance of the White Uni-Ball Signo Broad Pigment ink Pen.

Garden Dance with Butterflies

Holbein Acrylic Gouache,  Collage, Watercolor, 

White Uni-Ball Signo Broad Pigment ink Pen, Pentel EnerGel Black Pen, 

on Fabriano Hot Press Watercolor Paper

For 'Garden Dance', I took the previous leftover wet pallet of acrylic gouache and just smooshed it into the white watercolor paper. Once dried, I loosely added watercolor on top, then placed my traced composition on top with graphite paper. The composition was inspired by a design used in two previous artworks, and I thought it was a perfect subject to experiment with the new Holbein acrylic gouache, aiming for a sense of movement and life in my garden.

The composition of 'Garden Dance' was traced from a design used in two previous artworks... links below. It was a perfect subject to experiment with the new Holbein acrylic gouache, as I wanted to explore more smooshing, layering, and mark-making textures, aiming for a sense of movement and life in my garden.

Paper Cut Light Box 

Moonlight Dance on Scratchboard

  

CLOSE-UP of Garden Dance

BLACK EnerGel Pen details over the Holbein Acrylic Gouache. 

Watercolor & Acrylic Gouache complement each other beautifully.

CLOSE-UP of the glove in Garden Dance:

White Uni-Ball Signo Broad Pigment pen for the white design on the pink glove.

I give this medium Holbein Acrylic Gouache a thumbs up overall, except for the price. Are they worth it? YES, but how I use them and the size of the format will have to be considered.

They would make a great-to-go traveling set, as they are easy to clean with water and provide a big hit of color that the pigments stay strong, even when mixed into acrylic medium to create texture and glazes. 

Mix the Holbein Acrylic Gouache and watercolors for a perfect marriage made in art heaven.

CLOSE-UP of layers intermixing acrylic gouache with watercolors.

The ink pens brought another layer of textural interest at the end.

I scrubbed the acrylic gouache to achieve a soft effect.

DIY paint pallet for acrylic paint to slow drying:

1.  Use a low-sided plastic container with a tight lid for storage. (check dollar stores)
2.  Put a damp paper towel on the bottom of the plastic container.
3.  Cut parchment baking paper to fit the inside of the plastic container.
4.  Push down the baking paper slightly to touch the damp paper towel underneath.
5.  Squirt out the paint. 
6. I could keep the paint wet for days. It is not perfect, as the surface can be lumpy, and paper towel water can thin out the acrylic paint, but it is beneficial in a pinch.

Explore, do some smooshing, turn up the music, and create! Minaz