Reflections......and Memories!

The painting above, titled "Breakfast Anyone?" is a good illustration of reflections; and, it brings back memories to me of breakfast at home. We had a coffee pot like this one when I was growing up and when I see one of these coffee pots, I can smell coffee! I can't remember the last time I saw a coffee pot like this any place other than a yard sale. But, you can have one of these coffee pots and still go to Starbucks by painting one like this.

Reflections in watercolor paintings are easy to achieve by simply laying in stripes or sections of color along with the color of the object. Reflections are found most often in water, skies, and shiny objects.

Below are instructions for painting reflections in a shiny coffee pot.
1. Sketch the coffee pot.
2. Dampen one section of the coffee pot with clear water.
3. Work with only one section at a time to prevent drying.
4. Start at the top section (not the lid) and work down.
5. Lay on stripes of color and let them bleed together. Colors used in painting a coffee pot are painted in this order from left to right:

Payne’s Gray + Ultramarine Blue
Light Orange or Peach
Payne’s Gray
Ultramarine Blue
Payne’s Gray
Yellow Ochre
Payne’s Gray

6. Let section dry and move to the next section.
7. Paint top and bottom of the coffee pot in the same way. Add reflections of surrounding objects such as a basket, tablecloth, reflected light, etc.

Now, does anyone smell coffee?