Body Colour

​This is 'Storm Break', watercolour and gouache, and represents my second experiment in 'body colour'. Body colour was popular in watercolour back in Turner's day, when it became a mainstream movement. It stemmed from the introduction of Chinese White, which is a very bright and opaque medium which could be mixed with watercolour to provide opacity. At its most extreme, it was used by watercolourists to both provide a highly reflective underpainted surface, and as body colour within the watercolours, which together could result in a watercolour which had more the appearance of an oil painting than a watercolour.
Here, I've simply used permanent white gouache to strengthen some of the colour in the storm clouds, and to join the white colour of the cloud edges, which is a mixture of unpainted white paper and touches of gouache, with the transparent watercolour of the cloud darks. By doing so, I have tried to model the clouds lights, darks and shapes in a little more detail than I could achieve with a simple watercolour wash. I rather like the effect! The aircraft and the water have been painted conventionally for watercolour, with some of the wave crests highlighted with gouache to match the cloud treatment.
The use of body colour and gouache is frowned upon by some watercolourists who consider that all watercolours should be transparent. I love watercolours of all sorts and transparent watercolours can be beautiful. However, the likes of Turner showed that there was no need to restrict ourselves, as artists, in the media we use. In this painting, I wanted these effects, so I used some body colour. As long as the results are pleasing and permanent so that the overall painting is as durable as the permanent watercolour, I really see no reason to be restrictive. There are plenty of rules in this world - so I'm delighted that there are no rules in art!