The opaques
Posted: July 15, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized 16 CommentsI 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.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
This is lovely. Are the opaque pigments watercolor or gouache?
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Thanks Jeanne. The opaque pigments are all watercolour except for the white which is gouache. But I also sometimes use Titanium White watercolour instead.
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Thanks. That’s what I thought.
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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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Beautiful spring flowers! Thanks for sharing how you use your opaques.
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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.
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Thanks for the good tips, Shari! Your garden painting is stunning!
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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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Happy scene. Pretty flowers. Like the colors.
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Nice painting it is loose and abstract, yet still has the essence of flowers.
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Nice to see and hear where you use your opaques. This is really nice
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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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Frieda, the Cobalt Green I use is indeed from Holbein. I just looked at the Holbein site. They do list it as transparent but it contains PW6 which is Titanium Dioxide so I disagree with their site. This is definitely an opaque pigment.
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Thank you! I painted it over a black line and indeed! It’s definitely opaque!
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Glad you did that. I have done that in the past so I also know it is opaque from that test!!
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Always good to test for yourself! Sorry I have bothered you with this! Thank you for your reply! ❤️
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