Author: Pierre Labeau, Contributing Editor

Hello again, folks! Roger (the assistant dictator here at WetCanvas!) recently received the following e-mail from one of our regular visitors: Dear Roger, "I recently tried to paint (using watercolor) a still life that contained my son's trombone along with 2 spoons and an old mason jar (all objects with which you could produce music). I had a problem making the trombone look like brass. The spoons didn't come out too good either. Needless to say, I could not find the article I have on painting brass. Maybe you could put something out there that would help. I do understand that brass is difficult to paint, partly because it picks up a lot of reflections". Cindy Well Cindy, Roger passed this along to me and asked that I include it in my "QuikTips" section. They do this to me all the time! What do they think I am? But, I am always happy to help if I can, so here goes!

Shiny metallic surfaces are among the most difficult of textures to interpret with paint. These surfaces usually occur in still life painting and can make or break an otherwise good piece of art. Properly executed, brass or silver objects in a still life can add a great deal of interest to the painting. A shiny surface is like a mirror, reflecting the object around it. The color of the reflected objects is influenced by the color of the reflective surface. A brass bowl or vase will give a yellowish tone to the colors of the images reflected on it. In the case of silver, which has no color itself, the reflected images will appear much the same colors as the objects causing the reflections. The color swatches above are a kind of general guide for use in painting silver or gold or brass. Of course, the colors at the top are for the brass or gold, and the bottom colors are for silver. I hope this helps, Cindy, and all of those of you who are having trouble with these surfaces.