How to paint a gouache rose

Gouache is a beautiful medium to paint with, and in today’s blog post, I’ll show you one way to paint a gouache rose. I love painting with gouache. It’s an opaque medium, very similar to watercolour, but also reminiscent of acrylic or oils. I use the type of gouache that rewets after it dries, so I’m able to easily paint and then clean up afterwards. 

Flowers are wonderful in any medium, and gouache is no different. I like to practice various gouache flowers in small paintings, trying out different perspectives or colour combinations. The small size and little palette and paint tubes make it particularly simple to pull out on a weeknight and get some quick painting practice in.

Paint a rose in gouache along with my on my YouTube channel.

Supplies

You’ll need a few supplies to get started. Below are the supplies I used to help guide you as you gather yours. 

• Gouache paints. I used artist quality gouache, and you can likely find similar shades in other brands.
  • Primary blue
  • Primary red
  • Primary yellow
  • Permanent green middle. You can skip this colour and just mix blue and yellow to make green.
  • Titanium white

• Watercolour brushes.
  • Size 16 round
  • Size 8 round
  • Size 1 round

• Palette for mixing
• Rinse water containers. I like using two – one for an initial rinse and a second for clean water. 
• Watercolour paper. I used Arches cold press 100% cotton paper.
• Washi tape

Get supplies

Pick up supplies for this project at your local art supply shop or on Amazon:

US

• Winsor & Newton gouache set
• Size 16 watercolour brush
• Size 8 round watercolour brush
• Size 0 round watercolour brush

Canada

• Winsor & Newton gouache set
• Size 16 watercolour brush
• Size 8 round watercolour brush
• Size 1 round watercolour brush