Reflections In Watercolor

Mulan wonders when her reflection will show, in the water. But how do we display that reflection the Disney artists showed us. I read up in the reflection chapter of my book, Understanding Perspective by Stephanie Bower to understand the reflection behind bodies of water. To do this I looked up many lakes surrounding homes and neighborhoods. The specific painting I followed along with from the book shows a village street in Rua Dr. Pereira, Paraly, Brazil by Mathew Brehm.

Bower says that they're two properties in the combinations of reflection; "Smooth vs. rippled water... Be sure to look carefully, as the object and its reflection are not identical" (Bower 90). In my reference drawing Mathew Brehm follows a village street with no ripples. The water is simply standing. This makes sketching a bit easier as the reflection should now be an identical mirrored copy of  above the reflection or water. The valley above the street is focused in the middle to let the readers eyes follow down towards the water, so are the houses. In each painting an artists thinks carefully about every angle, because an angle can be crucial. Perspective is what draws the reader in, the artist shows what they want the reader to see by using perspective to train the eyes to follow an object down to their focus.

Bower explains reflections as a mirrored image that starts at a piece of lined reflection (Bower 91). Bower shows this in diagrams, like folded paper. Wherever the line of reflection is at is where you paper or house in this case will be folded. I took note of this advice when i got past the line of reflection and started drawing my mirrored homes. I lifted the object below the reflection line and flipped the house upside down. I found this part was easiest when i just turned the paper upside down. I did sketches before I attempted to draw the whole thing. This helped to watch out for mistakes I made while sketching prior in my rough drafts.



Personally I love the look of reflection on a body of water. So what is your favorite tactic of perspective? What is your favorite thing to draw or doodle? I know I love to draw Instagram models, but for the blog assignment I wanted to challenge myself to try something new.

Still Life Sketches

                                                 Still Life Drawing By:Olivia Nguyen

If you look around the room you will find shapes, shapes everywhere. Drawing can be simple and easy when you start each sketch with shapes and then connect them. I decided to pick up my water color pen and my watercolor palette to start drawing again. Since this is my fourth entry I decided to change it up a bit and instead of drawing building I decided I would try still life. I picked some objects only and from the book to replicate or draw. I lost track of time and before I knew it I sketched about a dozen different objects!



In the book Understand Perspective by Stephanie Bower she says "Try sketching rounded lampshades in your home from different eye levels. What part of the ellipses do you see when your eye level is higher than the lampshade?" (Bower 83). I kept this in mind when I was sketching one of the objects, I sketched the teacup from different angles which gave me a good perspective and I learned a lot from the shapes from different angles.

Bower describes ellipses as circles in perspectives as flattened shapes, by understanding these circles making arches and vaulted ceilings are so much easier. We often rarely see true circles (Bower 82). I made many ellipses when I was drawing, I used them to sketch out my first drawings. Starting with a base was helpful to make more in depth drawings. The rough drawing make a good match with the watercolor.

These sketches took me about under an hour. I used a pental aquabrush, paper, and a bic pencil. What i really like about watercolor is the flexibility of colors that are optional for you. What is your favorite media of art? And why?