How to paint with creativity! - Original watercolor painting water reflections fall trees

Happy Accidents

I heard an art teacher type, say the other day, that he hates to hear someone talk about having happy accidents when they paint. The point is well taken. If you don't have any painting skills, everything you do will be an accident, I mean the total loss kind of a, you better hope you have insurance kind of accident.

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Inflexibility

The problem with a lot of academics is that they plan their painting out in such detail that there is no room for deviation. There is little chance that a happy accident can happen when you, paint in an inflexible manner.

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We are all failures!

You are going to make mistakes, everyone does. Every mistake is a, mistake, or it is an opportunity to be creative. The easy thing to do is quickly correct it. It will be your first impulse. Resist!

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Look for Ink Blots

Before you correct that mistake, look at it for a minute like an Ink Blot. What do you see? Does it look like anything at all, if it does, then make it so! If you do this, it will add a new dimension to your painting. You will find yourself doing things in a different way than you normally would have done. It will be exciting, I guarantee.

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So, was it a Happy Accident, or was it simply a mistake.
"Rocks and Trees"
original watercolor painting water reflections fall trees
7x10
$48 in My Etsy store
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At some point in the future I will photograph a happy accident, as it occurs, and show you how I dealt with it.

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My Happy Accident

I had intended for the green grassy area in this painting to go all the way down to the water. I inadvertently made the center area a little darker than I wanted. There were a couple spots where the paper was still white. The dark area looked to me like a dirt drop off and the white spots looked like rocks. So, that is what I made them. I have painted similar scenes to this before and have never had a dirt area or rocks. If not for my Happy Accident, I would have painted the same thing I have painted before,because we tend to paint what we are most comfortable with.

Artist advice - How to be an artist

Artist advice - How to be an artist

Are you an artist, or a business person. There are many artist who are technically good, but their work doesn't sell. Then there are artist who's work is just OK, and they can't stop selling.

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I often have parents come up to me at art shows and ask what advise I would give to their 14 year old budding artist. I say, "If your he or she, wants to be an artist, then he actually will be a salesman, so he should go to college and get a marketing degree and a minor in art. If his art skill are good, his marketing degree will help him be successful. If his art skills are excellent, but he doesn't know how to market himself, or talk to people in groups, and individually, he will fail.

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What does an artist do!

You have to present yourself in written and verbal form to Galleries, the general public. You might what to give talks, demonstrations, or give lessons as a way of promoting yourself.

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You need to know about price points, so that you know how to price your paintings.

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Your going to have to do research, to learn how you can cut your cost and find the cheapest supplies, outsource, figure out how to Wholesale.

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You need to know who your market is, and figure out, where is the best avenue to reach them.

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To some degree, you going to have to do some accounting.

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You may Physically have to learn how to make frames and matts. Or invest in machinery to help you make then, in order to cut your cost, so that you make more profit. If you are a full time artist, you will lose a fortune if you are having a frame shop do your framing for you. Unless they are giving you a heck of a deal.

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The toughest job, with the highest turnaround is Salesman
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Not only are you a salesman, you are selling yourself. Not only are you selling yourself,, you are selling something personal. The reason that sales people don't last is because they can't handle the rejection. When you are an artist, the rejection is worse, because you aren't selling a vacuum that you have no emotional attachment to. You are selling yourself, and it is hard, to not take it personally, when you don't sell.

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I could go on and on

So, what is my point! Nothing in the long list I have given, has anything to do with creativity and the actual producing of your art work. The sooner you start thinking of yourself as a business person, the sooner you will start to make progress with your art career. That means that you have to dedicate time to thinking about the business side as well. You have to do some research to learn whatever it is that you need to know. Study, do your homework! AH, Dad, stop it! As my son would say. You may need to take a speech class, or whatever it takes. The sooner the better.

One of my abstract paintings
Original acrylic geometric abstract

in MY Etsy Acrylic Store

How to paint reflections on water - original watercolor painting trees lake

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"Colorful Sunset"
original watercolor painting water reflections trees lake
5x7
$35 in Artist Derek Collins Etsy Store
Questions?
Please add your comment or question!

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How to Paint Reflections in Watercolor
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Misconceptions!
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Water is not Blue
Water has no color, it reflects what ever is around it, be it sky, trees, or Star Trek groupies.
The color of the water may also be determined by what is under the water. If the bottom of the
stream is mud, the water may be brown, if it's mossy, it may be green.

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Water reflections are not the same value as the sky
The value and or color of the water is going to be darker than the sky. You may look at a scene and say, "They look the same to me!" But you have to make it darker anyway, for the sake of perspective and maybe to add balance to the painting. Also, just to differentiate the sky from the water

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You can see in the painting above, the darker water in the foreground focuses you eyes back up to the brighter colors, and the center of interest. If the foreground water color was lighter, your eye would go right off the painting.

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Don't Make Waves
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We aren't painting "The Perfect Storm", we are paintings still or nearly still water. We are painting a totally flat surface. The water has to be smooth, the colors need to be blended together and have a smooth appearance.

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Do

Have fresh paint ready, don't use dried up paint, you need color and you need it quick. You should never used dried paint. Every time you add water, you dilute the paint, it ends up being a lot of water and very little paint.

Here We Go

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With a large brush,wet the entire paper in one direction, when you are finished, without adding more water, go over it in the opposite direction. You are just trying to insure that the water is spread evenly

Notice the Sky is lighter than the water
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The Sky is light Cerulean Blue, the water is darker Cerulean Blue, in the foreground it is Ultramarine Blue, an even darker Blue

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In the sky I used Cadium Yellow, in the water Ochre, a darker Yellow, you get the idea here.
The colors that you use, aren't as important, as getting the appearance of a glassy surface.
If it looks like a smooth surface it will look like water.

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I painted the sky in this order

From the horizon upward, first the Cadium Yellow, then on top of it, Cadium Red, which blended and became a soft Orange. The Lighter colors to the darker colors. Then I painted the Light blue Sky with Cerulean, then over top of it with a dark Purple, which was Ultramarine Blue and Alizarine Crimson. Again the lighter color, then the darker color

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Alternate if your Bold

Use multiple brushes. Paint the yellow in the sky. Then immediately, paint the mirror, but darker Ochre in the water. Paint the Lighter Cerulean in the sky, then immediately paint the darker Ultramarine in the water, etc.

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Wet a section at a time if your timid
Wet the Sky, paint it, then wet the water and paint it. You can always re-wet an area if need be.
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Re-Wet the Water

I obviously painted in the trees and land, now back to the reflections. Now, I'm going to paint the trees, reflecting in the water. Normally, I would just re-wet the area below the trees, but I thought the water color was a little to bright. So I mixed Alizarine and Utramarine Blue and made a dark purple. I did a wash starting at the bottom, as I moved upward the wash lightened.

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Paint the Tree Reflections

You don't want the paint to spread too much, when you paint the trees. You want the paper to be just wet enough to diffuse or blur the edges. If it spreads too much you won't be able to get a shape that looks like the shape of the tree.

Add the Tree Trunks

I added some highlights to the trees. I thought the tree reflections needed to be a little darker, so I darkened them a little more, being careful to keep it soft. You want the water to be pretty much dry when you add the tree trunks. You don't want the paint spreading, the reflection of the tree trunk could then be 3 times the size of the actual trunk. Then I added the tree trunks, and immediately added their reflections in the water

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Piece of Cake
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Please add your comment. I hope this was helpful, if it was, please let me know. If something was unclear, let me know that also. Maybe I will expound on it further. Derek