David Grove gouache pick-out technique

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Hi, I've been trying to emulate the technique made famous by artists like David Grove. They lay down textured gesso, then draw. then wash big areas in gouache. then 'pick-out' the highlights with a brush dipped in water. and finally, paint back in darks and lights.

I can't figure out how to remove a watercolor layer without removing the oil paint beneath it.
and if i use separate layers, it defeats the purpose of the textured gesso (which is having the washes run into the grooves of the gesso)

Does anybody have any ideas?


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You could try duplicating your color layer lowering the opacity on them so instead of say... 1 100% layer , you'll have 2 layers of 50%. Experiment with layer modes and opacity between them and then pick a layer where you'll do your "lifting" from.
It's not perfect but will preserve some of the color information that was there before.
 
You could also duplicate your layer once you've got all the texture and drawing sorted out to your satisfaction, paint on the duplicated layer, and then erase or mask that to reveal the original colorless layer below. Using a layer mask is nondestructive, and would allow you to undo any "lifting" you've done at any time to restore the color. Just always make sure you specifically have the mask selected while erasing (either with a brush set to erase, or using pure black pigment).
 
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