Gouache happens to be the third subject in my series. And it is not necessarily an actual subject but a medium used to paint. Unlike watercolours, gouache comes in paste form in tubes. The opaqueness of it is not found in watercolours although it can be watered down to make it seem alike. Gouache is a painter’s friend. The flexibility that comes with it is observed in the wide range of paintings using gouache. I had encountered gouache paints when I was just starting out. I loved the easy-going medium and how it gave my paintings the effect and finish that I wanted.
Enter impressionism and Monet, where I found a lot of my inspiration from. The works of Monet held a subtle character to it that when looked closely, it seemed gibberish while ironically, moving further away the whole picture made sense and had a certain depth to it. I discovered that water lilies are of common appeal to Monet and I. Almost all of my doodles throughout my childhood happen to be either water lilies or lotuses. This intrigued me to find more about this man, this painter who created magic with the two things I loved; impressionism and water lilies. As I learnt more, I wanted to create more.
Some of my favourite paintings that I recreated in this project happen to be The Marina at Argenteuil, Water Lilies (Harmony in Blue) 1914-17, and Chrysanthemums circa 1897 by Claude Monet. These works of his can be found in the public domain and do not come under the copyright act, therefore they are open to interpretation. (Not copying like some might assume.)
While these paintings that I’ve finished make me happy that I’ve done them, I do think I might’ve been a little too ambitious with this medium given the time crunch. I was really looking forward to gouache, so much so, that I happened to skip two different subjects in between. Originally, there were more paintings planned in this genre but I didn’t want to create them halfheartedly. The lesson that I’m taking back from this is not to create certain subjects or works or techniques within a time frame. I plan to come back to this subject later and enjoy the whole process without speeding things up.