Sarah Burns Studio X Craftamo
Gouache Subscription Box 6

Part 1: Unboxing, Materials & Color Mixing

Supplies

Materials in Box #6:

• Paper
• 2 brushes
• #14 Mop
• #1 Rigger
• 2 colors
• Permanent Yellow Deep,
• Primary Magenta
  

Part 2: Demo

It’s really helpful to take some time to practice different brush strokes for clouds. I like to do two main types. One is very abstract - quick dry brush strokes layered on top of each other. They are usually in the direction I want the clouds to be floating across the sky.

For the big fluffy clouds, I like to use my round or filbert brush to “roll” the shapes.
I typically start with whatever my darkest color is then add lighter colors on top. Almost always wait for each color to dry before adding the next layer.

Reference:

My final painting:

 I hope you enjoy this demo! See you next month!

What’s coming in Box #7

For Box 7 we will be painting a misty highland scene. I will show you how I like to use gouache more like watercolor sometimes, in order to create fluid and spontaneous results.

Supplies included in Box 7:

• Paper
• 2 brushes
• #14 Round
• #⅜" Angle
• 2 Colors: 
• Prussian Blue,
• Yellow Ochre

Brush Care 

Never leave your brushes in water for too long. After rinsing, dry the hairs as best you can with a towel then let them dry on a flat surface. Leaving them in water for too long can cause the wood of the handle to swell, which can crack the handle coating. If that happens, the brush is still usable, just not as pretty! 

I usually clean mine with brush soap every few uses. You can find brush soap on the Craftamo website or any art store.

Community

Don’t forget to join my Discord chat server! You can share images of your sketches/painting and enjoy a sense of community. Or if you’d like to share your work with me on Instagram, use the hashtag #sarahburnstutor so I can find you.

Additional helpful resources:

Brand new to gouache? As you discover questions about gouache, I hope to answer as many as I can. For now, you can start with this blog post which goes very in-depth about what gouache is.

If you want even more instruction, I often post free tutorials on YouTube. Otherwise my Patreon is a great resource to learn even more. 

Additional suggested materials:

I use lots of different gouaches, papers, sketchbooks, and palettes for different purposes. You don’t need anything extra right now, except maybe paper as you will probably run out of that first. 

Craftamo sells extra paper (same as what is in the boxes) and it’s very affordable. 

Otherwise, I have lots of recommendations. I keep an updated list of all my favorite art supplies here.

How I use my different brushes: video

This video shows all the brush types you will receive over the course of the 12 month subscription. At the end of the video I show how to care for your brushes.