Gouache
Artists
Jessie Hartland
Marisabina Russo
LuUyen Pham
A segment of Jessie Hartland's Bon Appetit artwork, gouache. Click through to enlarge.
Gouache is thicker, non-transparent watercolor.
Gouache is made with a mixture of powdered pigment suspended in gum arabic and honey, which act as preservatives. What differentiates gouache from watercolor is that it is thicker and non-transparent. This effect is accomplished in numerous ways: often the pigment is not milled as fine as in watercolor; the pigment load is higher, increasing coverage and saturation; and zinc oxide, a white pigment, is added. Modern developments in gouache include acrylic gouache, which is made in a similar way as traditional gouache but is suspended in an acrylic polymer resin instead of gum arabic.
Jessie Hartland: Bon Appetit: The Delicious Life of Julia Child
Jessie Hartland chronicled Julia Child’s life in panels with handwritten lettering and drawings filled with details of the French Chef’s exciting and eccentric life. The tools she favored were Winsor & Newton gouache as well as Schmincke and Holbein, and Winsor & Newton sable brushes (When I see a woman wearing a big sable coat I think, “Wow that’s a lot of brushes!”)
Marisabina Russo: Little Bird Takes a Bath
Marisabina Russo worked in gouache on Arches cold pressed watercolor paper, bringing young readers a sense of place with her expressive paintings. Her books are filled with background details, yet never too busy.
LeUyen Pham: All Fall Down
LeUyen Pham's bright, bold colors and sense of motion accompany the rhyming text of this book very well. Her simple, stylized figures are accesable to readers both young and old alike and bring with them a sense of whimsy.
Barrett, Mary Brigid. All Fall Down. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Sommerville, MA: Candlewick. 2014.