So I'm completely new to anything acrylics related. Honestly, I wasn't planning on even buying these paints and just casually started watching this class, because it was there. And then I saw these Japanesque paints and they weren't that expensive on Amazon and then... I just... clicked "buy". So here I am trying to learn matte acrylics/acryla gouache.

(Atm I can't upload photos from my phone to my PC, so I insert the photos here and write on the computer later. Just in case you're seeing a funny or empty looking post. I'm working on it.)

First I swatched everything - I used masking tape, but still didn't get clean edges. The colours are very pretty to look at, but the selection is very... unique. The names are so ... poetic. Even more so than in other Japanese colour sets (e.g. Gansai, Akashiya watercolour brushes) - this is such a turn-on for little artsy me. ^__^;;;

and then tried out the paints (all of them - I left space for the later exercises in mixing. The space at the top is for mixing with white and black. Only thing is, I realized afterwards the set doesn't even have a black...

The paints are reeaaalllyy coarse/grainy. Is it this line, acryla gouache in general or just my set? Takes a lot of getting used to, coming from watercolour.

After doing this for all colours and starting the mixing chart, I wasn't feeling like doing a geometric circle exercise swatch exercise thingy. So I went a bit crazy. First tried out a real watery wash like in watercolours:

Next I layered circles and squares and then put some critter on top. And yes, the upper picture is my version of the light-on-dark exercise and the lower is dark-on-light. :) I felt, I was exercising brush control (which also depends a lot on the thickness of the paint) enough here, so I didn't do another one. I made sure to try out different opacities and structures, as well, because that exercise before simply wasn't enough for me. (The last time I touched acrylics was in one of those paint-by-numbers paint sets as a kid, and I'm not really familiar with gouache, either.)

While painting these, I watched/listened to Alanna's class on mittens in gouache plus coloured pencils. So, I got out my trusty communist era Bohemian Works Mondelez (Koh-i-Noors) and went to town with them.

Voilà cute fish:

and dinos: I'm pretty happy with the results. :)

Next I sketched a still life with a Japanese tea pot and some Chinese lanterns (the plant). And then I froze, because this was just too complex for me. Especially mixing (and using the palette!) scares me. I've been using the paint straight from the tube - like, I literally dip my brush in the paint tube or use the caps as paint wells. ^__^;

So I dialed back a bit and instead repainted a design from @femvionary's watercolour class I had done before. I wanted to try a watery and an opaque version, to really enforce the main point of lesson #1.

So, I made my own white background. And I'm so in love with the texture. Stil am. This is so gorgeous! *__*

This is the opaque version. The colours are a bit off. When I get things to work properly, for once, I'll correct that.

Here is the watered down version. I was surprised to get actual watercoloury effects from these paints! O.O I'm amazed.

So this concludes my work for lesson 1 and exercises for lesson 2. Up and coming: completed mixing chart, layered flower still-life, mixity fruits.

I am unexpectedly loving these paints so much, especially the opaque textured *__*. Thank you, Alanna for the chance to get to know this medium!!! Now, all that remains is for me to get over my fear of wasting paint and starting to use a palette. ^^;