(The Arteza supplies used on this art journal page were sent to me by Arteza to review. My opinions are my own!)
Somehow, a late night swatching session turned into a late night art journaling session recently, so I decided to flip on the camera and record it! I recently received a 60 color gouache paint set from Arteza for review, and once I started swatching the colors, I just couldn’t put the paints down! You can check out my process video here:
Gouache paints are completely new to me, and I am very excited to give them a try! I swatched out the 60 colors and am in love with the variety in color and finishes. I have looked at other reviews of these paints that suggested you don’t really need all 60 because you could blend your own colors. While I understand the thought behind that, I find it so much easier to have a huge variety of colors already mixed. I don’t want to have to custom mix a bunch of colors every single time I want to create. So, the full set works really well for me and how I like to create art!
Gouache paint ended up feeling a lot like a mix between watercolor and acrylic paint which I found very interesting. It had the opacity of acrylic paint when applied thickly or in layers, but it blended so easily with water and was also able to be pretty transparent. What a cool product! The 60 color set includes a variety of finishes including matte, pearl, and metallic.
In this project, I also used Arteza water brushes, which I knew I was going to love right off! I have used water brushes for a long time because of how easily you can control the amount of water and how transportable they are. The Artexa brush set comes with a variety of brush tip sizes and feel great in your hand. They hold a great deal of water, so you don’t have to go refill your brush quite as much. The nylon tips work especially will with gouache paint, because the water content is more controllable.
Lastly, in this project, I used a new watercolor art journal that Arteza sent to me. The quality is great, but the size will definitely be a challenge for me. I love that their watercolor books come in sets of two, because I am rarely working in one art journal at a time. I like having the option of flipping between the two books if one page is drying. The only issue I had with the book was getting it to lay flat while I worked, but I anticipate that with a little more use, that is not going to be a problem anymore!
If you are interested in checking out the Arteza products that I use in the video, feel free to peruse their website here (these are affiliate links):
Let me know if you have any tips or tricks for working with gouache paint…I’m so excited to be trying something new!
Keep it creative,
-The Scrappy Wife
It’s beautiful