Artists' Gouache Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Hello Friends! It's not every day that a new product line comes out, so I'm excited to be a part of this blog hop debuting Altenew's new Artist's Gouache Set!

I have to admit, I was a little intimidated at the thought of playing around with a new-to-me media, that comes in a tube no less. They look so "artsy"! But I'm happy to report they are very manageable and fun to play around with!  

You may have come from the delightful Virginia Lu, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with the Altenew Blog.

These cards are really a tale of two cities, with one being somewhat involved and detailed, and one being very loose and free. Let's take a look at the detailed one first!

First, I must say how fancy I felt squeezing the gouache out of the tubes, lol! Then it was a matter of figuring out the right consistency and amount of water to add (like a thicker soup). I started with masking off the margins of my panel and applying a wash to the background. Because the gouache is quickly reactivated with water, it was easy to make this gradient wash without worrying about moving fast. 

Then I stamped the Paint-a-Flower: Rose on the left and right and started applying color to the flowers. This is where I had a lot of fun experimenting with how to use the color. My intention for this panel was just to practice and learn how to use the gouache, but I ended up keeping it as the final card.

I took the opportunity to mount the panel on a coordinating colored piece of cardstock I folded into an A2 card.

My observations, as a complete beginner to this medium, are to take advantage of the fact that unlike watercolors, the gouache doesn't bleed as easily when it touches already painted areas. This is helpful when painting sections of petals, especially for impatient artists like me.

 

Also, it's convenient to know that when it dries out on your palette it's easy to reactivate with a damp brush and continue painting.

The next card is a quick one that creates an awesome tie-dye effect! I used the Brick Rosette Builder Stencil to put directly on the card, and then just painted the gouache around each circle. 

The gouache that pools under the stencil is just what I needed to create the loose tie-dye effect. It blends a bit with the other colors, but it's not all over the place.

This is a simple design, with just a sentiment added on top to finish, so it works for many different occasions.

My intention was to stencil several of these in cool colors on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock and cut them into quarters. I'm in desperate need of male birthday cards since I have boys! The speed and level of interest on these are the perfect candidate to have teen boy birthday cards ready.

 

Artists' Gouache Set

If you're unsure about using gouache because you've never worked with it before, I'd say go for it! It comes out to about $3 per tube, which is the same or a tad cheaper than a mini ink cube. 

Giveaway Prizes:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a *$100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $20 gift certificates to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 12/12/2022 for a chance to win. 

Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 12/14/2022.

*The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog. 

I'm happy to send you to the super talented LauraJane, who has some gorgeous projects you must see!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for stopping by!
- Kelly 

Supplies Used (affiliate links at no additional cost to you, thanks so much!)

Artist's Gouache Paint Set

Brick Rosette Builder Stencil

Paint-a-Flower: Rose