The opaques

I have a bunch of opaque pigments —Lavender, Naples Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Turquoise and Cobalt Green — on my palette. I don’t necessarily use them for mixing but I do put them to good use in the final stages of a sketch or painting to add some sparkle or a few highlights to dark areas of a sketch.

Lavender came in handy when I was painting the Veronicastrum in my garden this morning. (That’s the spiky purple flowers on the left that are a favourite of bees.) While the purple wash was still wet, a wind caught my paper and I ended up with a dark green spot in the middle of the flowers where the paper hit my wet brush. When the sketch was dry, I came back in with some spots of opaque Lavender and a bit of white gouache too, to bring back the spikes of the flower. I also used some Lemon Yellow on the grasses at the right.

Another recent favourite is Buff Titanium. I don’t use it much in a diluted state, but it’s wonderful when I’m painting a marsh scene and want to add some dry texture or grasses like I did in the foreground of Wetlands.


16 Comments on “The opaques”

  1. jeanne1937 says:

    This is lovely. Are the opaque pigments watercolor or gouache?

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  2. Bernadette says:

    Gorgeous! Love the opaques alongside of the bright transparent colors. It is such a happy painting, another of my favorites! Thanks for posting.

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  3. D says:

    Beautiful spring flowers! Thanks for sharing how you use your opaques.

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  4. Denise says:

    This is such a happy painting! Can’t help but smile at all the pretty colors and the sense of joy when you look at it! Beautiful garden, beautiful painting.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Vicky Porter says:

    Thanks for the good tips, Shari! Your garden painting is stunning!

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  6. Bernadette says:

    Wondering….do you ever use opaque watercolor or gouache in a watercolor painting? Would that change it to a mixed media work? Just curious.

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  7. Susie Langley says:

    Happy scene. Pretty flowers. Like the colors.

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  8. Nice painting it is loose and abstract, yet still has the essence of flowers.

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  9. Nice to see and hear where you use your opaques. This is really nice

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  10. friedakam says:

    Hi Shari, I am a bit confused. On the color chart of Holbein, Cobalt green is mentioned as transparent, not opaque.

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