Coffee Cup with Violas, Turner Acrylic Gouache on Artistico cold-pressed 140lb Watercolour paper, (23x25.5cm)

Experienced gouache painter, Pamela Kay, works with Turner Acrylic Gouache for the first time.

Turner Colour Works

Turner Acrylic Gouache paint is a product from Turner Colour Works Ltd of Japan.

Even before you have unscrewed the cap you can guess that these paints are Japanese. Beautifully made and exquisitely boxed, as all Japanese products are, they are the mainstay of the Japanese specialist animation industry.

The flat, matt, brilliant colours that typify computer graphics and animation films seem to be chosen directly from these shade cards, ready mixed.

Top features:

• Vibrant range of colours
• Matt, ultra smooth finish
• Permanent when dry
• Non toxic
• Quick drying
• Bright, clean colour mixes which are 'impossible to muddy'
• Colour remain the same once dry

Where to buy

Turner Acrylic Gouache can be purchased from Jackson's Art Supplies by

CLICKING HERE

The colours

Colours such as mustard, dandelion and spring blue are not normally found on artists’ paint charts, whether oil, watercolour or conventional gouache.

These vibrant colours are ready mixed, and they vary from brilliant, almost high visibility neon to succulent pastels and delicious pale ice cream colours.

Stinging greens, clean and crisp, pearlised pale and deep shades, even, astonishingly, glitter colours are available, all in an immense choice of colours.

More than 200 colours available:

• 74 original colours
• Nine metallic colours
• 69 Japanesque colours
• 15 pastel colours
• 13 Lamé colours
• Six flourescent colours
• 18 pearl colours
• Three mixing colours
• Six transparent pearl colours
• Six greyish colours

Sizes available:

• 20ml
• 40ml
• 100ml
• 250ml

Sets available:

• Turner Acrylic gouache comes in sets of 12, 18, 24 and 36
• Japanesque are available in sets of 12 and 45

ORDER YOUR SET HERE

Perfect for designers

The point is they are designers’ colours, which go that much further into the decorative area of gold, pearl and glitter – and are acrylic.

The leaflet that accompanies the paints describes how they are perfect for any surface so they will be a godsend to the craft world, from painted pebbles to wood, metal and card.

I showed the shade card to a friend of mine who is a designer and she was ecstatic to see such intense colours and loved the various spangly, metallic and pearlised shades. In particular, she pointed out the superb grey, as all neutral colours are useful and a good clean grey is very important.

This enthusiastic reaction is from a designer, however, and I must now see how they work for a painter.

Trying a new medium

Bear in mind that Turner Acrylic Gouache is very new to me and it necessitated quite a shift in the head just to begin using this medium.

All the work was made with these paints on Artistico cold-pressed 140lb 9x12in. watercolour paper pad.

1. Working in thin washes

I began with a painting of Paperwhite Narcissus (see above), and, as I normally do with gouache, with thin washes of colour. In this case, it was cobalt blue and burnt sienna, describing the greys of the flower heads as they turn from the light.

The paint dries on the plate quickly, so there was no chance to pick up a bit of a previous wash and carry it through to another area. Perhaps I didn’t mix enough up to do this.

The drying time made large washes difficult to control, but meant I could over-paint in opaque colour without too much bleed almost instantly. As I like rough broken washes rather than very flat even ones, all this was not too surprising and gave me licence to use brighter, more intense colour in the greens of the stems and leaves.

Then things started to become interesting. It felt as if this study could turn from a watercolour into an oil approach, should I want to take it that far.

I decided to leave it there and work on another painting and see what happened.

2. Using the bright colours

Next, I tried something with more obvious colour. This small study of a coffee cup with violas (see above) was painted in the same way I would if using ordinary gouache, with thin washes of colour again, building up to a solid body colour.

I had to find a new way to mix the deep purple/violet of the viola and mixed Prussian blue and violet to find a deep tone.

The consistency of the paint was strange to me, and I puddled about in thick pigment at first, thinning it to achieve the right colour and tone.

Laying wash upon wash it became apparent that it was impossible to muddy the colour. The washes remained bright and clean – amazing!

Although the pigment dried as quickly on my paper palette, I kept it moving more successfully and, with practice, could pick up remains of mixes before they became part of the palette forever.

With each painting I was discovering more.

3. Colours which stay true

It was during the painting of the final piece, the clementines in a silver bowl (see above), that I realised the major difference between these colours and conventional gouache.

An allowance must be made when using ordinary gouache for the change in colour when dry – the greater amount of filler mixed with the pigment can give a lighter or chalky finish to the work.

The Japanesque acrylic gouache does not change. The strength of hue and intensity of colour remains the same, and layers of glazes can usefully enrich a difficult colour, such as orange, if applied over a completely dry surface, something that is not possible with non-acrylic gouache.

Final thoughts

So far, these very quick sketches have colour that has kept fresh and clean, and I’m sure this would be the case for anyone using them. In short, the range of colours that would more likely be used for painting rather than designing – the Japanesque range – has much to commend it: clean, brightness of colour, massive saturation and versatility of use.

With the range of colours available, there should be something for everyone, especially if you enjoy fierce, vibrant colour in your work. Even if it is in a small and select area, like the stems of the paperwhites, where it is possible to enjoy the juicy greens without it becoming too strident.

Would I use them in preference to non-acrylic gouache? Not for my work, yet. I can’t get used to their different handling, but this is something practised acrylic users would take in their stride.

If you are used to acrylic, try them as soon as you can; you are in for a treat!

Turner Acrylic Gouache can be purchased from Jackson’s Art Supplies