and I was busy painting three pieces which I am delighted to say will be included in 

The Water Colour Society of Ireland 

165th Annual Exhibition 

30th September – 13th October  at  The Farmleigh Gallery

Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park. 

Gouache is a great medium it is more forgiving to work with than watercolour but it’s not all sweetness and light either! Gouache came about in the 16th century. It is a water based medium consisting of natural pigment, water 

and a binding agent. Gouache is opaque, unlike watercolour which is transparent, it can be re-wetted and it dries to a different value than it appears when wet. The final surface is matte and is chalky in appearance. The fast drying quality of gouache appealed to the Impressionist painters when they made ‘plein air’ or open-air painting popular in the 19th century. (See attached image of one of my gouache paintings ‘Evening Tide’ Shannon Estuary)