In the 1st week, I chose Acrylic Gouache, a medium I had never worked with before, as my tool for exploration. This material is both unfamiliar and full of possibilities for me. After researching various artworks created with this medium, I selected a moss-themed painting (shown on the right) to replicate. I was particularly drawn to this piece because it captures the vitality and intricate details of moss through layered colors and rich textures.
Through this week’s practice, I aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the medium’s characteristics, such as its opacity, the way it builds layers, and its interaction with water. By breaking down and reconstructing the painting process, I sought to analyze the key factors that in influence the quality of the artwork, such as technique, color harmony, and attention to detail. This not only gave me a more intuitive grasp of Acrylic Gouache but also laid the groundwork for further iterative experiments.
WRITTEN RESPONSE
DRAFT 1:
What’s unexpected about this thing you just made?
What do you understand better or differently about your tool or medium now? Did it pose a particular technical challenge?
What kind of output or knowledge does this tool or medium favor?
What relationship does it have to graphic or communication design?
I realized that I could not complete the work according to the steps I had used to color with electronic painting, because the order of color seemed to be completed by taking into account coverage, etc., rather than just copying colors.
I find that Acrylic gouache will have more vivid colors and it does not necessarily need a lot of water like watercolor to complete the work. Moreover, Acrylic gouache layering can create rich texture and depth, and acrylic gouache covering can create a picture with both breathing and heavy feeling. There are more possibilities to explore in space and hierarchy.
During the reproduction process, the most challenging thing was to control the ratio of water and pigment to ensure that the color remained vivid while creating gradients between layers. This made me realize that this medium is technically demanding in terms of detail processing and texture expression.
I think this tool is more suitable to quickly record the color of the picture and composition of the material, because the capture of color and shape is relatively simple for this material, and the color will be more vivid. However, there are some limitations to depicting some detailed linear works, because the controllability of water will be relatively low, and it is impossible to complete very fine linear content.
Color and weight can be used as a way of transmission, different colors and textures will bring different feelings when watching and send different signals. The superposition of water marks can also be used as a way of propagation. When I draw a thing, everything will eventually be left on the canvas in the form of water marks, so different water marks will represent different information about the object.
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