Linda Blondheim Art Studio Landscapes Of The South

Homosassa River
24x24 inches
oil on canvas

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Painters Tip


Thoughts about Painting Reflections

There are lots of ways to approach painting water reflections. Some painters make a science of it, being very precise, others keep it minimal with simple streaks across the water in a side to side motion. My method is simple. I am not a realist painter and so I approach landscape painting from a design perspective rather than trying to copy nature. I like to lay in the basic elements of the reflection, trees, color masses and so forth, early in the painting. Then I will ignore the water for some time while I work on the land masses. I save the water for last, using a semi abstract method to apply the paint. I like to use diagonals and curves to leave motion on the surface in areas, laying in dark and light, color and so forth, esentially plugging it in approximately where it would be in the scene I'm painting.

I never swish the paint from side to side, preferring to have a cleaner crisp placement. Instead, I lay in short strokes with color over color, creating a broken refracted look to the paint surface. Some of the paint is left untouched and smooth, other areas are textured. My reflectons are never exact or perfect mirrors because I think the painting is more interesting without perfection. Sometimes I will turn the painting upside down to check for linear elements.

The best way to learn to paint water is to do small studies . Do studies of patterns, different atmospheric conditions and so forth, until you are very comfortable painting water in all kinds of conditions. Water is about light and reflection. Don't make it too predictable. Don't think of it as water, but instead, as form,color, and value.