HIMI Jelly Gouache Color Review: White, Acid Blue

In the prior review https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/himi-jelly-gouache-color-review-1-sky.html,  I described my swatch charts and how I would be reviewing the HIMI gouache colors as I opened each one up to use in a small painting with a mythology/Star Trek theme done on a birthday card for a friend. The painting is an outdoor scene, and I wanted to start with the sky, but alas, Sky Blue turned out to be a bit too purpley - more of a periwinkle color (see above pic). Knowing that Ultramarine and Cobalt would also likely be too warm, I turned my attention to the blue that was most like Cerulean, called Acid Blue. It was very dark in the jelly cup, so I knew I would need White, as well. 

HIMI Jelly Gouache color number 108- White 

I opened the White first and swatched it in beside Sky Blue on my charts. Of course, you can't tell much from the white charts, but it had pretty decent opacity on the black charts and no granularity to speak of. It appears to be a good neutral white, with no hint of cream or grey that might skew it warm or cool. I mixed equal parts of the White with the previously-opened Sky Blue to create my first mix at the appropriate intersection on my swatch charts. It created a nice pale lavender.  

HIMI Jelly Gouache color number 017- Acid Blue 

Acid Blue isn't a typical color name, but I would liken this to cerulean, or perhaps phthalo blue. As with the other colors, it stirred up to a smooth, pudding-type consistency (not like a jelly, as the name implies) and applied smoothly to the swatch charts. The Acid Blue had good opacity and minimal granularity when diluted. When mixed with the White, it made a good sky color (middle). It also made a nice turquoise when mixed with the Sky Blue (right). Yay! I was able to start on the card. 

I laid in the sky and then used the White to indicate some clouds. With gouache, as with other paints, it's best to work lean-to-fat, so I started with a thinner wash, which I built up where I needed to. As you can see, the brown of the kraft paper shows through somewhat in some areas of the wash. I built up the wash to be more opaque in most areas, but I did leave some of this slight brownish tint showing, as I liked the aging effect. This was a conscious design decision by me and shouldn't be taken as an evaluation of the paint's coverage. 

The thing about gouache is that it's flexible - like traditional transparent watercolors, you can use varying degrees of dilution to control intensity, but unlike transparent watercolors, you can control the opacity, as well. Being able to go back in and rework the paint is very handy as, as well. I was able to go back in with just a wet brush to smooth out a couple of spots, and once the gouache dried, I was able to evaluate the respective values and add volume to the clouds with a heavier application of the White to add thicker-looking, highlighted areas. 

In the next post, I'll start the hunt for the right grass color! 

Here is the first article regarding the unboxing and the overall quality and appearance of the 24-color HIMI jelly gouache set:

https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/03/unboxing-himi-jelly-gouache-24-color-set.html

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