🎨 GUIDED PAINTING TUTORIAL — Color Cube Scene #367

Medium: Gouache (Holbein)

⛰️ About This Scene

Inspired by Color Cube Card #367 by Sarah Renae Clark, this project explores calm and vibrant mountain landscapes using gouache.
We’ll combine soft, layered shapes with bold, opaque color to create depth, atmosphere, and quiet movement—perfect for painters who love control with painterly expression.

This scene is all about peaceful color harmony with confident mark-making.

🎨 Paint Colors Used (Holbein Gouache)

  • Ivory Black - (structure, grounding, and deep contrast)
  • Turquoise Green - (cool vibrancy and atmospheric layers)
  • Amur Cork Yellow -(soft warmth and gentle glow)
  • Orange Yellow - (sunlit energy and warmth)
  • Rose Violet - (beautiful mid-tone transitions and depth)
  • Ultramarine Blue - (cool shadows and distant mountain ranges)

Together, these colors create a balanced palette that feels calm, grounded, and quietly luminous.

📄 Paper

  • Hahnemühle 300 lb Hot Press Paper
    The smooth surface is ideal for gouache—allowing for crisp edges, layered opacity, and controlled blending.

🖌️ Brushes Used

  • Stiff White Taklon Brushes (like Princeton SNAP, or Rosemary Snowdrops)

For this project, stiff Taklon brushes are intentionally used instead of sable brushes.
They allow for:

  • Strong, confident strokes
  • Clean edges in layered mountains
  • Better control with thicker gouache paint
  • Less water absorption (perfect for opacity)

✨ Before You Begin

Set up your space for a relaxed, successful painting session:

  • Protect your surface with paper towels or puppy pads (our go-to at the Art Café).
  • Prepare two jars of clean water:
    • One for rinsing paint
    • One for a final clean dip
  • Keep a mixing palette nearby—gouache benefits from intentional color mixing
  • Mix enough paint before you begin each layer to maintain consistency
  • Remember: gouache loves confidence and simplicity—trust your shapes

🧼 Brush Care: Do’s & Don’ts

✔️ Do

  • Rinse brushes thoroughly between colors
  • Wipe brushes gently in one direction on a towel
  • Reshape bristles before laying brushes flat to dry
  • Clean brushes promptly after painting (gouache dries matte and fast)

❌ Don’t

  • Don’t leave brushes sitting in water
    This bends bristles and weakens the adhesive in the ferrule
  • Don’t scrub aggressively back and forth
    Even Taklon fibers last longer with gentle handling
  • Don’t store brushes upright while wet

Stiff Taklon brushes are durable, but thoughtful care keeps them performing beautifully.

▶️ Ready to Paint?

Choose how you’d like to follow along:

  • Full Real-Time Gouache Tutorial

  • Sped-Up Demonstration

🌟 Continue Your Creative Journey

Loved this project? Come explore more colors, more mediums, and more creative experiences at the Huntsville Art Café!  

Whether you want to try watercolor, gouache, markers, ink, or something totally new, we’ll have everything set up and ready for your next artistic adventure.

🎨 Book your next Art Café Experience here:  huntsvilleartcafe.com

💛 Bonus:
Any art supplies you purchase during your Art Café session are 10% off
(as long as they aren’t already discounted).

We can’t wait to paint with you again!