Jane Blundell Artist: Daniel Smith Gouache

I am a watercolour artist, passionate about colour. I have been painting professionally for over 40 years and love to share my discoveries, so I have created this 'Colourpedia - a swatching Wikipedia' to quote one of my YouTube followers. You can see more of my work, links to my online courses, and many resources and tutorials on my website www.janeblundellart.com. You can also find me on Facebook at Jane Blundell Artist, and on Instagram as Janeblundellart, and on YouTube as Jane Blundell

Thursday 12 October 2023

Daniel Smith Gouache

Daniel Smith Gouache has been in the pipeline for some years, with the first 22 colour selections available in late 2023. Made with concentrated pigment and gum Arabic, these paints can be used straight from the tube and dry with a matt finish.

Titanium White and Buff Titanium lend themselves to gouache as they are more opaque pigments. The yellows give a cool, medium and warm option which is very useful for mixing. I've opted for the Hansa Yellow Medium as a single mixing yellow in my 16-colour gouache palette, but the classic 'cool and warm' pair of Hansa Yellow Light and Hasnsa Yellow Deep are also available.

Daniel Smith Goauche - Titanium White, Buff Titanium, Hansa Yellow Light,

Hansa Yellow Medium, Hansa Yellow Deep.

The scan doesn't capture the vibrancy of Pyrrol Orange. Pyrrol Scarlet is just on the orange side of red and Pyrrol Red is a rich tomato red. Quinacridone Magenta is a classic mixing red. Wisteria, like the watercolours in the same name, has added white.

Daniel Smith Goauche - Pyrrol Orange, Pyrrol Scarlet, Pyrrol Red, Quinacridone Magenta, Wisteria.

Lavender also has added white. Ultramarine is a classic blue in any palette. Cobalt Blue is less often found in watercolour. Cascade Green is an exclusive Daniel Smith colour created for the Cascade Mountains.

Daniel Smith Goauche - Lavender, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cascade Green, Permanent Green Light.

You can see that Indian Red is the most opaque of the colours, as this is also an opaque colour in watercolour. Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna are really useful earth colours. The Burnt Sienna is a particularly beautiful rich orange earth colour.

Daniel Smith Goauche - Spring Green, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Indian Red.

Burnt Umber and Lamp Black complete the original set or 22 colours. Raw Umber and a large range of other blacks, greys and darks have since been added.

Daniel Smith Goauche - Burnt Umber, Lamp Black

May 2024 update

Here are five more of the gouache colours that I have bought for my own palette. Very few companies make Cerulean as a gouache at all using PB35 or PB36, but this is a beauty. Phthalo Green is so useful for mixing. I like to have Raw Umber in a palette as great shade and earth colour. Jane's Grey and Jane's Black are also a great addition as I now don't need to use a black pigment in gouache either.

Daniel Smith Gouache - Cerulean Blue Chromium, Phthalo Green BS, Raw Umber, Jane's Grey, Jane's Black (Red

Green)

And one more. The Chromium version of Cerulean is clearly cooler and richer, but the PB35 is a very pretty sky colour.

Daniel Smith Gouache - Cerulean Blue

52 new colours are now available - bringing the total to 74. I am delighted to see some cool-leaning colours in this extra range, including a number of my favourites - Phthalo Blue GS, Cerulean Chromium and Permanent Alizarin Crimson - that will aid in mixing, along with Raw Umber, Piemontite Genuine Sap Green and of course Jane's Grey and the two Jane's Blacks. You can click on any of these to see how they look on the Daniel Smith website, painted out in full strength, diluted and over black paper. I'll add more as I can. Or as always, please contact me if you'd like to send a sample to add here 🙂