Opaque Painting Techniques

Scumbling Technique

• Scumbling involves moving the paint brush backwards and forwards in a motion that resembles scrubbing. This creates an irregular look and allows you to see the underlying paint, even though the colors you use are opaque. Spots of color from below tend to add life to a scumble. Using a brush with natural bristles creates a better scumbling effect than using one with nylon bristles. (see reference 1)

Wet Blending Technique

• The wet blending technique involves placing two painted passages next to each other. With the paint still wet, run a moist brush along the edge where the two passages meet. You could also run the brush across the border between the two edges. The blend you get will differ, depending on the direction in which you run the brush.

Dry Brush Technique

• Using just a trace of color on your brush, move it lightly across the surface you are painting so that the bristles just graze the surface. This dry brush technique leaves just a trace of paint on the medium, rather than a thicker coating. You can brush harder in some areas to create a graduated effect.

Wet-On-Wet Technique

• The wet-on-wet, or wet-in-wet, technique involves painting a layer of new color onto another paint layer that is still wet. One way to do this adding a new layer and mix it into the older layer. On drying, the canvas will contain traces of the two original colors, as well as the newly created color.

  Another wet-on-wet method avoids mixing the two colors by applying the second color in small amounts over the first. This technique is a good way to paint traces of white clouds onto a blue sky.