Any ideas which make paintting lake reflections easier ?

[JPQ]

Any ideas which make paintting lake reflections easier ? i talk mainly watercolour,and soft pastels,and coloured pencils. but i search tips whicvh dontl look what tool i use. and i want paint form my "head" not use photography for refence.

[gnu]

make sure if it's a still reflection, that the height of the mountain etc is the same from the waterline down as it is from the waterline above, if necessary, trace your image line above the water, tip it upside down, and re trace to match in the water area. paint/fill your colours and tones in the water with downward lines, have some broken lines going across the reflection in places, and make the water image bluer, if necessary add a light layer in blue (pencil) or transparent blue wash for watercolour. If the water is wavy/still the reflections can carry down further in a wiggly fashion. hope that helps, I LOVE reflections!!!

[Keith2]

Just keep on doing lots of paintings or drawings in front of the actual scene, or perhaps using good quality photos as a guide. Then after much practice you might be able to do convincing waterscapes from memory. But there are no simple rules that you can follow.

[JPQ]

But i want paint what i "see" in my "brains".

[La_]

Originally Posted by JPQ

But i want paint what i "see" in my "brains".

Then you're likely not going to produce Reality.

Try it tho, I could be wrong, perhaps you're one of the few who has clarity.

Perhaps the fantasy scenes you produce will be spectacular.

la

[Erica Shipley]

If you practice a few from real photos or places of reference you will get a feel for it and be able to draw from your head. The desire for instant gratification may have you desiring to skip a few steps which may keep you from reaching your destination.

I am the same way. I want to do it my way and now and have it look like I imagine it. But when I don't put in the leg work I don't get good results.

I suggest you work a few from reference and build a study of the theme you want. Then after they are becoming easier you can begin to see where you can use the water patern and lighting of a previous practice to work in elements of what you really want to do.

Do a practice sketch of your idea and get some tracing paper. Go over your idea and make changes on the tracing paper until you get it right then transfer to the final paper so you have a guide for your finished piece.


Hope something I said is helpfull.

[James Murch]

The general rule for water reflections is that darks are always lighter and lights are slightly darker. In other words, the tones have less range but are only slightly different from the object, so you may even be surprised about how dark reflections can be.

Try applying your reflections with dynamic strokes and get the tone right before perhaps cutting into them with ripples to show the fragmented reflection in moving water.

What you have in your head will be based on memories of things you have seen so there is a lot to be said from observing even if you are not painting from observation. You can often get a very powerful image when you rely on your memory of a scene because it will be your own impression which will be limited to the bits that were most poignant to you emotionally.

There is nothing more beautiful than honestly observing something in creation, take the time to look for a while. I would recommend carrying a journal around with you like Turner - he would often paint on location in watercolour but he also relied a lot on quick pencil notes and then would paint from memory in his lodgings.

Hope that helps.

[Douglas John]

a tip that would help you is to paint the body of water with horizontal brush strokes and the and reflections with vertical strokes. ad a bit of a wavy motion to give the effect of light motion in water. Also a touch of blue or green in the reflected image. keeps it looking like a reflection and not a copy of the mountains behind the lake.
If you want to paint weights in your mind do abstracts. The best exercise for doing any realism is to get outdoors and paint small images. many many many small throw away paintings be honest in your critiques of your own work. look at the work of some of the best nature and landscape painters what do you see in them?

[jackiesimmonds]

Originally Posted by JPQ

But i want paint what i "see" in my "brains".

The advice you have been given is correct. you need to paint from life first, using your eyes to observe what actually in front of you, before you will have enough information in your brain to paint accurately from memory.

When we look at a scene, such as reflections on a lake, we are not able to absorb ALL of the information in order to repeat it accurately on paper. Our memory is just not good enough....not unless you are one of those prodigies who are able to reproduce their memories exactly.

clearly, you are not able to do that, or you would not be asking questions!

So, the best way to learn is look at the scene and observe it very carefully. As you have been told, there are no short cuts.

It is very interesting to me that we can remember a scene quite well.....but it is really difficult to paint that scene without seeing it in front of us, the results of painting from memory are usually very unsatisfactory.