Some suggestions:

Opaque Medium has a very dull matte finish.
Adding some matte medium may do the same

I would use caution about using a matt finish at the end as it can alter some details.

There is a matt acrylic gouache that you may consider.

Don’t know if this will be of any assistance but it might

http://www.myamericanartist.com/americanartist/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000600643

When I was interviewing artists for my book “Watercolour Innovations”, which showcases the work of 8 top UK artists using watermedia, I found quite a few who used acrylics, and the finished look of their works was much like works done with gouache. It might have been to do with the surfaces they used … but also, it was mostly to do with the fact that the works were done on either heavy watercolour paper, or on board, like Mount Board, and then framed under glass.

The reflective surface of glass “takes over” from the glossy surface of acrylic paint, and you don’t know, then, whether the image was painted with acrylics or with gouache.

the advtange of using acrylics, over gouache, is that acrylics wont lift previously painted layers; gouache sometimes does, it is not waterproof. The “scumbled” sky in the Manhatten painting below is a good example, and you can see the layering at work in the Baltic City pic. (lots more in the book …for more info about the book – click in my sig line).

J

I am interested in gouache but have never used it before.

Hi John2. I primarily work in gouache. I also paint with acryllic and like the varied characteristics of both.

Technically, gouache is an opaque watercolor (very similar to tempra) in that it is made up of pigment and clay (mind you, that is a VERY simple description). It dries to a velvety matte finish. I love the way it works, looks and blends. It is a bit unstable when dry and must be protected under glass. I do not varnish it, as I had a disastrous experience with gouache matte varnish – once.

Acryllic is NOT a watercolor, even though it works with water. It is more of a plastic or resin-type paint, and is much “tougher” when dry than gouache. And acryllic tends to dry glossy, but depending on how you thin or handle it, it will dry with an uneven finish. You can add a matte medium to it if you want to achieve the velvet finish of qouache, but it only simulates it, not is that fabulous look that gouache has.

In my humble opinion, just try the gouache. I’ll help.

Holbein Acryla Gouache uses an acrylic emulsion instead of gum arabic for the binder, and it is impossible to tell from the paint surface that it is not traditional gouache. It is somewhat water resistant when dry, but not to the extent of conventional acrylic paint. This facilitates layering.

However, I prefer traditional gouache because there are useful techniques which depend on the paint remaining water soluble. For example, hard edges can be softened by working over them with a wet brush. Moreover, you don’t lose the paint if it dries on your palette. I use Da Vinci gouache. It’s a lot cheaper than Winsor & Newton.

I am now working on some ideas for paintings that I will be doing on cold press water color paper, but need a matte finish for them. It seems like it would be easier to just stay with acrylic and use a matte medium, to try for the look of gouache…

Hi John, it can be quite difficult to get the dead-matt appearance of gouache in acrylics just by adding matt medium; depending on the brand you’re using the amount of medium you would have to add could make quite a difference in the opacity of the paint (mediums generally increasing transparency). And in my experience some matt mediums don’t mean ‘matt’ in the way a gouache painter would understand it

…but I am interested in how different that would be than just using gouache. And if the look I would get would be not as good as with gouache? …wonder how different working in gouache would be from what I have been painting with acrylics.

You would need to use both to know for sure, side by side ideally; personal mileage varies. IMO painting in gouache is really very difficult (little room for error) but it depends on how exactly you use them.

My main concern with switching to gouache is if I would have trouble pulling up the lower layers trying to put in washes on top?

Yes, very much so in some cases.

My recommendation is if you want the sort of finish that gouache is associated with but you want to paint in the manner that you’re accustomed to then one of the matt acrylics is the way to go. In addition to the one Richard mentions above there are matt acrylics made by Golden and Liquitex, plus Flashe from L&F, but my suggestion would be Jo Sonja artists’ acrylics[/URL], these used to be called acrylic gouache for exactly the reason you’d suppose – reliable dead matt finish but in an acrylic paint. I’ve used them a bit and they’re very good overall, good price too in comparison to other 2oz tubes of acrylic indented for artists.

Einion

I have been working in acrylic on stretched canvas, usually first laying down solid layers and then doing thinner washes over them to get the look I want.

Gouache isn’t really suited for that kind of technique. It’s meant to be applied directly and opaquely. If washes are used, they’re used in the beginning, with thicker layers of paint applied on top. Washes applied on top won’t lift bottom layers if you do it very quickly, but they don’t look good. They can appear chalky, and even powder off.

There’s no good way to get an acrylic to look like a gouache. I’ve worked in both extensively, and no one will ever mistake the plastic surface of acrylic for the velvety softness of gouache, no matter what I do. However, if all you want is a matte surface, then many good suggestions have been given.

Tami