Muted Colours in Gouache
A Quiet Power and Strength
I'm quieter and softer, and that’s reflected in my preference for muted colour schemes in my paintings. While bright colours often demand attention, muted tones play a significant yet subtle role in composition. They whisper rather than shout, creating space for emotion, atmosphere, and nuance.
In this article, I want to share the understated beauty and importance of muted palettes—especially if you're more familiar with bold, saturated colours. We'll explore how muted tones can shape mood, enhance storytelling, and work in harmony with value to create depth and cohesion in gouache painting.
Why Muted Colours?
Muted colours are desaturated versions of pure hues. They’re created by mixing complementary colours, adding white or gray, or simply choosing earthier pigments. In gouache, this approach lends itself beautifully to soft landscapes, gentle portraits, and scenes where light and shadow play a more poetic role.
Muted palettes:
Create harmony and cohesion
Allow for emotional nuance
Let value (light and dark) guide the composition
The Importance of Value
Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a colour, regardless of its hue. In a muted palette, value becomes even more critical because you're not relying on bright colours to define form or focus.
Strong value structure helps:
Define shapes and depth
Guide the viewer’s eye
Create contrast and emphasis
Even with soft colours, a painting can feel powerful if the values are well-considered.
Working with Gouache
Gouache is ideal for muted schemes because:
It’s opaque, allowing layering and correction
It dries matte, enhancing softness
It mixes easily for subtle shifts in tone
Tips:
Use a limited palette and mix variations
Create a value chart before starting
Layer from dark to light, letting each layer dry, when highlights are added last
Layering dark to light establishes a strong value structure early on
Example from My Practice
In my painting Mares' Tails – A Warning in the Wind, I used a muted palette to evoke the tension and atmosphere of an approaching change in weather. The soft, desaturated tones in the sky and sea suggest movement and unease, while the composition relies on value contrasts to guide the viewer’s eye across the scene. The painting captures a moment of quiet anticipation—where the softness of the colours belies the energy in the wind. This interplay between muted colour and strong value structure creates a sense of drama without overwhelming the viewer, allowing emotion and narrative to emerge subtly.
Muted colours don’t mean dull. They’re rich with possibility—especially when paired with strong value structure. In gouache, they allow for expressive, atmospheric work that speaks softly but resonates deeply.
