Acrylic Reflections Demo

Demo: Acrylic Reflections Demo

In this demo, I use acrylics to create a watery reflection of a landscape in quite a loose, free manner. On the way, I try to achieve an impression of a slow, cold winter stream reflecting a golden sunset. Rather than follow my usual practice of modifying the brightness of the white canvas surface by adding a thin wash of very thin paint, I'm going to leave the canvas white and use acrylics. This should make the colours very pure. When I use acrylics I usually find that my painting style changes to accommodate their quick-drying qualities. This usually means that my paintings have much looser, and more visible brush strokes.
Tip: Don't be afraid to use photos. Most of this painting will be done entirely from a photo. Make no apologies for not painting entirely from life - being an artist is hard enough, we need all the help we can get!

	Stage 1: The under drawing. This can be done with charcoal or pencil, but in this instance I choose to mix a thin wash of acrylic ultramarine and burnt sienna. This gives a cool, neutral shade that I think pervades the whole scene. I use a round No 4 brush. At this stage I want to get the relationships between the stones 'right'. I'm quite willing to move stones around or ignore them completely - never slavishly copy the scene in front of you.
	Stage 2: The monochrome wash. Using the same ultramarine and sienna wash as above I block in the major tones. Don't worry about splashes and drips, they all add to the excitement at this stage. Look for and cherish any 'happy accidents'. I particularly like the way some of the drips resemble reflected branches.
Tip: Time to Stop and Think. At this stage I usually leave the painting alone for a while. This allows me to come back to it refreshed. Painting should be ninety percent looking and thinking, and ten percent actual painting.
	Stage 3: Add the First Colours I'm trying to do two things at this next stage: Establish the range between the lightest highlights and the darkest shadows, and get the key colour mixes right. The darkest areas are in the shadows of the far bank of the stream and under the bigger rocks. The lightest areas are the reflections in the water. I suggest the shadows using a mix of pthalo green (blue shade) and raw umber. The lightest areas are a mix of titanium white with just a touch of pthalo green. An important colour I need to get right early on is the golden colour of the sky reflected in the water. I mix golden ochre (a brighter, more orangey version of yellow ochre) with titanium white.
	Stage 4: Aerial Perspective I have trouble establishing the distant tones of the far background at the top left of the picture. Luckily the acrylic paint dries quickly and I can easily over paint the bad bits without pulling up colour from the previous layer - stopping the paint becoming 'muddy'. Meanwhile the intensity of the green, mossy stones in the foreground is heightened to bring them further forward. I continue trying to cover the canvas with as good an approximation of the final colour as possible, without getting too hung up on getting the 'right' colour. If I accidentally hit upon a perfect colour mix that has nothing to do with the actual colours from the original scene, that's just fine!
	Final Stage: Finishing Touches I finally manage to get the right sense of distance in the far distant trees at the top left but it takes several attempts. Finally I simplify the distant trees down to a very light, pale blue-grey. Meanwhile I paint in some of the individual stones in the gravel areas to the left and right. I don't want to have to paint every stone so I just try and paint enough to give the impression of the texture of lots of stones. I splatter paint using a stubby, worn brush over some areas of the gravel to get a quick look of tiny stones. A little more detail to the mossy stones in the foreground is added. Finally, I add small touches of pure white paint to the brightest reflections.
Although the painting is 'finished', I'll still need to come back to it in a few months time. By then I should be able to look at it through fresh eyes and finally decide whether it is truly complete.

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