How To Paint Glass & Reflections In Watercolor
Six Lessons Show How To Make Water Look Right In Your Paintings
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How To Paint Glass & Reflections In Watercolor
Six Lessons Show How To Make Water Look Right In Your Paintings
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
- Two important ideas and two easy ways to paint water
- The importance of soft and rough textures for making water look right
- Create the look of water with the right representations
Water is one of the more challenging subjects to paint, mainly because it requires the combination of several techniques, attention to edge textures, and variety in color and value.
While it is possible to capture the complexity of water in paint, it is often enough to simplify the expression into larger, visually meaningful symbols.
This series of lessons shows how to create the look of water using some basic ideas and fundamental watercolor painting techniques.
- 1-Two Important Ideas
- 2-Easy Reflections
- 3-Easy Puddles
- 4-Paint A Waterfall
- 5-Gentle Linear Reflections
- 6-Ripples & Circular Reflections
- 7-Paint Ocean Waves
Water has two important characteristics : it is Horizontal and it is Reflective.
The surface of water in most conditions is flat and horizontal. Rougher water and open ocean may have significant waves, but the surface is still fundamentally horizontal. It is important to create and reinforce the notion ‘horizontal-ness’ on the shapes that represent water in your paintings.
The color we see on the surface of water is due to several factors, the most important of which is reflectivity. Reflections on the surface of water happen in particular ways that are easy to simulate in your paintings.
This lesson shows how to simplify while still creating a believable sense of water in your paintings.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Brushes – Large, Medium and Small rounds.
- Colors – Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Aureolin Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna
- Watercolor paper – preferably Arches 140lb Cold Press cut to about 7″ x 11″ or so
DOWNLOAD : DRAWING LAYOUT, FINISHED PAINTING
This lesson shows an easy method for creating reflections on water. It uses the basic wet-in-wet technique with a little careful handling at the edges.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Watercolor paper – approx 7″ x 11″ – as always I recommend Arches 140lb Cold Press paper.
- Colors: Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue , Aureolin Yellow
- Brushes: Medium and Small Round
DOWNLOAD : FINISHED STUDY
Puddles are common on country roads and they are great compositional elements at well. It doesn’t take much to get them right!
The trick is quick, confident strokes and then to leave them alone. These techniques will work for many different kinds of water, especially lakes and quiet streams.
This quick lesson shows how.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- Brushes – medium round, small round and the rigger
- Colors: For the summer scene – Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Lemon Yellow and a little Permanent Alizarin Crimson
- Colors: For the fall scene: Ultramarine Blue, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Red Light
- Watercolor paper – preferably Arches 140lb Cold Press about 7″ x 11″
DOWNLOAD : DRAWING LAYOUT, FINISHED STUDY
Learn how to use two techniques to create the look of fast moving ‘whitewater’ and the spray that results when fast water strikes solid objects.
It can be surprising to learn that whitewater has a lot of rough texture. The energy and action of fast water agitates the water, splashing and splattering it while mixing it with air. The splashing and splattering is where the ‘rough’ texture comes in.
Foam is a result of mixing air and water into ‘whitewater’. Spray happens when fast water contacts some unmoving object like rocks or shore or even the water in a pool at the bottom of a fall.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Paint – Cobalt Blue, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Yellow
- Brushes – Medium and Small Rounds
- Paper – A small sheet of 140lb Cold Press Paper; Arches 140lb Cold Press is recommended
DOWNLOAD : DRAWING LAYOUT, FINISHED STUDY
Consistent Direction, Contrast and Some Linear Perspective
This lesson shows how to paint movement – waves, ripples and other rhythms – on the surface of water.
The lesson is only a quick study but it includes important ideas that will work for most water that has movement on the surface.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Brushes – Medium and Small Rounds
- Colors – Cobalt Blue, Thalo Blue, Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson
- Paper – a small piece, 5″ x 7″ or so – Arches 140lb Cold Press recommended
DOWNLOAD : DRAWING LAYOUT, FINISHED STUDY
Ripples are common on the surface of water. They radiate outward from a center point where the water’s surface was disturbed.
This lesson shows how to paint circular ripples using easy techniques. Careful attention needs to be paid to certain areas to complete the effect.
Learn how in this lesson.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Brushes – Medium and Small Rounds
- Colors – Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Yellow
- Watercolor paper – preferably Arches 140lb Cold Press cut to about 7″ x 11″ or so
DOWNLOAD : DRAWING LAYOUT, FINISHED STUDY
This lesson shows you how to paint water and waves in the open ocean. We’ll paint a quick and easy seascape and learn the one special element that must be added for the waves to look right. It’s a simple set of four colors and basic brushes.
Another important element for ocean water is capturing the rhythm and movement of the waves. In essence it needs some particular shapes and moving brush strokes in the direction or shape of the waves.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Brushes – 1 1/2″ Flat, 1″ Flat, 1/4″ Flat, Medium Round, Small Round, and Cotman #3 Rigger .
- Colors – Raw Sienna, DaVinci Burnt Sienna, Winsor Newton French Ultramarine Blue , Daniel Smith Cobalt Blue
- Watercolor paper – preferably Arches 140lb Cold Press cut to about 7″ x 11″ or so