Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight Update 10
I know said I was going to work the grasses after doing the palm tree reflections but I couldn’t resist continuing the reflections across the painting. Once I completed the reflections below the palms I wanted to see how the rest of the water would be integrated in. So, although I added an undercoat of chartreuse (P) to the grasses stretching across, I decided to continue work on the reflections.
The palms were taken from another reference photo, one that did not have any water, so the reflections had to be completely fabricated. I basically produced a mirror image – of sorts – roughly, only roughly. The water is moving, so there are lots of small waves. The wind is also creating some ripples here and there. The waves would break up the images considerably. Part of the wave would be reflecting the trees and part the sky, depending on the angle of the wave. I referred to the reflections on the right side as a guide to what the reflections under the palms might look like. Only the reflections of the trunks would bear a near resemblance to the real trees because they were light colored against a dark background.
When I finished the reflections under the palms they appeared a little too detailed, especially judging from reflections on the right side. So, I went back over it and scratched out more breaks in the images and further broke up the reflections until I felt they looked better. As can be seen from the photos, the reflections were just roughly sketched in at first to get the shapes and colors in, then I went back in to further refine them.
After completing the palm reflections I worked toward the right. Here, I had photos to follow. However, I decided that I didn’t need to copy the reflections exactly as they appeared in the photo. I merely had to study the wave and reflection patterns and then paint my own in. I copied some of the main wave and reflection patterns shown in the photos and then added more to maintain the same feel. Once again, I roughed in the wave and reflection patterns lightly. Now I’m starting back over, adding heavier layers, intensifying the colors and refining the shapes.
The colored pencils used to do the reflections were the same ones that were used to do the trees and sky.
After the reflections are completed, I’ll start work on the grasses.