Gouache is an opaque watercolor, and it’s one of my favorite medium to paint with!

I like it because I can achieve a flatter effect and can make crisp lines and shapes that look great against the white (or black) paper.

I use gouache paints from several different brands but wanted to highlight one gouache paint I like and use all the time : Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof White™

I first learned about this product in August Wren’s gouache painting class on creativebug.

I like the look of crisp white lines and details on watercolor paintings, and even though regular white gouache from the tube works just fine, I became curious and decided to give it a try.

It comes in a small 1fl. oz jar. I typically just dip the clean, wet brush directly into the jar to use it.

The paint is quite thick so you could mix it with a little bit of water.

I typically wet the brush first and then dip it in the jar. If it seems too wet (like you can see the water dripping from the brush), I’d just wipe it lightly on a paper towel. Start with a tiny bit of water first, or it’ll be thinned down too much and lose the opacity. Do experiment!

Per the manufacturer, Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof White™ isn’t meant for mixing with other colors, so I use regular white gouache for blending.

Unlike regular watercolor, which would allow the white color of the paper to show through, gouache is opaque, so adding white paint helps to create lighter colors.

I also use it to cover up or clean up any mistakes! It’s essentially a white-out paint 🙂

And it’s useful as a base layer as well when you’re layering colors and you don’t want them to blend.

For example, in the painting below, I painted the chicken with grey/black, and then once it’s dry, I covered up the parts where her beak and wattles would go with Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof White™ before I painted them with red and yellow.

You can see the little bit of grey showing through her comb where I didn’t lay the white first, and the yellow and red of beak and wattles show up brighter because I covered it up with white first.

I really enjoy adding extra details and texture to my work with Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof White™, and if you like the look of it on my paintings, give it a try 🙂

You can get yours here.

xo