I use a lot of water to do this so that I leave the surface with a shine on it. Once the colors are mixed I wet most of the road surface with clean water. This is basically the same mixture as that used for the buildings, people, cars, etc. To paint the reflections I start by mixing the colors for the reflections. In fact a watercolor painting such as this always feels incomplete until the reflections are done. To finish off this wet street painting we need to add the reflections. Watercolor painting of cars and people prior to doing road reflections Finishing the painting – reflections Later I used a similar mix to paint the tree behind the horizontial roof line of the church. The trees behind the church were painting with a mix of Cobalt Turquoise, Raw Umber, Aureolin, and some French Ultramarine. The distant cars had some of the local building color merged into them to fix them tonally at a particular spot in the picture plane. Most of the details were left for the church and the building next to it. Even though distant images are barely distinguishable I still kept varying my colors to add interest. Lightness in watercolor painting is achieve by adding more water to your mix. The distant colors are also much bluer and lighter. Notice how the buildings in the distance are very indistinct with more detail showing progressively as I come forward. The watercolors used are French Ultramarine, Burnt Siena, and Alizarin Crimson. Next we paint the buildings on the other side of the road. I let this stage dry thoroughly! Painting distant buildings with watercolor You can then make all your other objects, cars, awnings, posts, fences, etc. While objects below eye level will appear to come up to it as they move away.Īnother point about eye level which is important is that it basically tells you approximately how tall people are – hence eye level. What do I mean by this? Well, when drawing with perspective, objects above eye level will appear to move down to it the further away they are. The key point is to start with eye level and then draw your objects relative to that. The first step is to draw the street scene. Masking tape to fix watercolor paper to board.Easel or something to support the board at an angle of about 20 to 30Â°.Old piece of old towel to take moisture out of watercolor brushes.Artistâ€™s quality watercolor paints: French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Red, Cobalt Turquoise, Raw Umber, and Aureolin.Watercolor paper: quarter sheet (37cm x 27cm ) of 300 GSM Arches cold pressed paper.Wet weather watercolor painting: Reference photo of William Street, Bathurst.

Watercolor reflections in water