Up: [[Water-Based Media]] Created: 2025-09-17 Updated: 2025-09-20 All water-based mediums can be used together and mixed. I have Holbein acryla gouache. Acrylic gouache doesn’t rewet when dry, unlike traditional gouache. The colour doesn’t shift from wet to dry, again unlike traditional gouache. It is easier to layer with acrylic gouache. It’s much harder with traditional because the water in the new layer disturbs the layer underneath. Plus traditional is more likely to crack when thick layers are applied. Both acrylic gouache and traditional gouache give a matte finish. There’s more of a plastic effect when acrylic gouache dries than traditional gouache. The colours are gorgeous; crisp and vibrant. That plus them being matte is what appeals to me most about this medium. Paint dries quickly on the palette. Store in a sta-wet, but not for long periods of time. Put back in the tube if it’s going to be weeks between uses. Try using straight from the tube with a dry brush. But will get some drag this way. Watercolour blending medium or water helps with the flow. Dip a corner of brush into medium or into water and then the rest of the brush into the colour. You can do lots of dry brush layers which gives a painterly quality to the piece. I can use acrylic gouache on mixed media paper. A couple of days later, I did more research: So I’ve been wondering — if acrylic gouache isn’t supposed to be applied with much water, what is it that makes it a gouache rather than an acrylic paint? I read [this article](https://opusartsupplies.com/blogs/resource-library/acrylic-gouache-vs-traditional-gouache?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21503291741&gbraid=0AAAAADmLX_6CxlgIfZG70nnwnmsbeVMDr&gclid=CjwKCAjwobnGBhBNEiwAu2mpFFOgwSCitMfMtyKx2fX81YwAnyNUuBz8_rRMb9Z2DlLFJVU8yfr5cBoCl0cQAvD_BwE) and it turns out the answer is that it should be thought of more as an acrylic paint than a gouache. It differs from other acrylic paints mostly in that it’s particularly made to be opaque and have a matte finish. If you add much water to it, it weakens the paint. Instead you need to use acrylic mediums, flexible modelling pastes, or pouring mediums if you want to extend the paint or get different effects. Acrylic gouache’s big advantage is that it is flat paint with minimal reflections and brush marks, plus it won’t move when you layer on it. But because it’s acrylic paint, the only way to preserve it is to keep it moist with a Sta-Wet palette. Traditional gouache, in contrast, is a water-media. It differs from watercolours in that it’s again opaque and has a matte finish, but you can dilute it with water to make it more transparent. There will be less show through of the layers compared to watercolours so gouache is good for sharp lines. Traditional gouache can be reactivated with water, same as watercolour paints but you still want to be careful leaving too much of it out to dry just in case you have to put on so much water to reactivate it that you end up diluting the paint more than you intended.