At the end of last year a few courses on Domestika looked exciting so I thought I’d give them a go and I must say I’ve been loving Domestika’s format. They are well-curated, well put-together, and each course that I’ve done has gone through a very similar format, which I like. They’ve had quite good sales lately so I’ve jumped in to a few courses.

Ruth Wilshaw’s Course

The course I am writing about today is Ruth Wilshaw’s Painting Atmospheric Landscapes with Gouache. I have been slowly going through the lessons over the holidays and the start of the year, finishing all the modules about two weeks ago.

It has been so much fun, and very informative.

Why I wanted to do this course

I’ve dabbled in gouache on and off since 2020. In that process, I’ve read some books and done some Skillshare classes and YouTube tutorials but this was appealing and different for two reasons:

1. It focuses on landscapes - a subject matter that has not been my strong-suit and is something I am really looking at practicing at the moment

2. It was a chance to have fun and explore gouache without the goal of strict realism

The whimsical, wonderful aesthetic of Ruth’s illustrations, which have a fairytale-like quality to them also really appealed to me.

I was not disappointed.

What the course covers

The course covers:

1. Gouache and its characteristics

2. How to work with gouache and finding the right consistency for what you’re trying to do

3. Layering

4. Blending techniques

5. Landscape basics

6. Finding inspiration

7. Creating a plan for your paintings

8. Painting a Magical Waterfall exercise using the skills learned

9. Inspiration and ideas for how to move forward and keep improving.

As you can see, the course covers quite a lot, and definitely covers the basics.

Here are some of my exercises from the course:

What I loved

What I particularly loved were some of the layering and blending techniques I have been able to apply to my own work.

More specifically, the course also taught me great new skills like how to approach skies and water in gouache, both of which I was struggling with. I really loved and felt a great sense of accomplishment from completing the waters.

Another excellent aspect of the course was the resources and worksheets, especially the one on composition.

What I have gotten out of it

The course has given me the push to really give gouache my time and effort. It is a medium I fall in love with every time I use it but I haven’t used it often enough.

I loved every bit of the course, and was often squealing in delight when something worked well.

Before the course I had mostly painted some animals and plants in gouache, with I think just one landscape. The course has given me the tools and resources to create whimsical, fun, vibrant illustrations from the photographs and memories of places I love.

What I’m creating as a result of the course

The course has had me painting landscapes from my recent travels in a very illustrative, children’s book style.

Here are just a couple of the illustrations I’ve done since the course:

The illustrations I’ve done lately are more along the lines of the sort of thing I love to see and pore over in picture books.

I don’t think there’s a course I’ve enjoyed more than this one in a long, long time.