Painting Reflections in Watercolor - Three Easy Steps

Water is fascinating - even mesmerizing. There is something about it that makes me want to paint it. 

However, with water scenes, you face the challenge of depicting reflections, which can be challenging. In this week’s video, I walk you through a painting and let you in on the 3 tips that have helped me the most when it comes to painting reflections. 

So, my 3 tips on Painting Reflections are:

1. Think in layers. 

Our first layer is the first wash, in which you’ll work to create the general color of the water. Then you have the soft ripples in the water. And finally, you’ll add the darker reflections.

All of these are done in different phases of the painting, so we want to think through each of the layers along the way that will create the whole painting in the end.

You’ll also want to think of the reflections as one big shape. You'll notice in my early example, there were a lot of separations in the painting. Making these reflections all one big shape is really key to painting cleanly. 

1. Paint confidently and cleanly.

You’ll notice that the more that you fiddle with your reflections, the worse that it actually looks. 

There are ways that you can practice this. I encourage a lot of painters to keep a piece of scrap paper close to where you're working so you can load your brush up and make some practice marks. It is essential to understand what your brush is going to do before you touch it to your painting. This can prevent some of that overworking that we tend toward sometimes. 

By keeping my marks as simple as I can and not overworking it, I can make my reflections actually look a lot more believable. It's interesting how that works. It's like if you can let go a little bit and not be so picky, it will actually look more realistic. 

1. Align your reflections properly. 

The reflections must mirror what it's reflecting, so it is important that you accurately line up the reflection with the object we’re seeing in the water. Think about the angles and the most prominent parts of the object that is being reflected.

One strategy I use is when I need a straight vertical line, I will turn my paper sideways. This is a more natural motion, so it often results in a cleaner, straighter line. 

I hope that you found this content helpful today! 

-Matt