Reflections in Acrylic: Depicting Light on Water

Course Overview

Improve the realism of your waterscapes by mastering the art of painting convincing reflections, whether on tranquil or choppy waters. Join professional artist Peter John Reid as he guides you through essential acrylic techniques including blending, rippling, glazing, and capturing the dynamic interplay of light and color on water surfaces. Step-by-step, you’ll learn to simplify, analyze, and skillfully paint water reflections for striking and lifelike results.

Video Lesson List

1. Seeing Reflections

Meet your instructor, Peter John Reid, and learn how to simplify reflections by observing the lines, shapes, and colors that create them. Start by painting a dynamic sky using wet-in-wet blending and dry brush techniques.

Duration: 22 min

2. Broken Reflections

Apply the wet-in-wet blending technique to paint water with sky reflections. Learn also how to use simple tools for painting straight lines as you depict shoreline reflections.

Duration: 34 min

3. Painting Ripples

Explore how ripples influence reflections on water and practice techniques for painting realistic ripples. Peter explains how the appearance changes with distance from the horizon line.

Duration: 21 min

4. Painting Depth

Start a new scene and see how water depth impacts your color choices and painting approach. Practice building a water base, fix issues with drying time, and get tips for painting shores and land features.

Duration: 21 min

5. Choppy Water

Learn to depict choppy water by adding ripples that show movement. Use elongated brush strokes to create dynamic surfaces and discover how to capture subtle color variations in turbulent water.

Duration: 22 min

6. Glazing

Master glazing techniques to achieve smooth color transitions, enhanced depth, and dramatic effects. Peter shares advice for finishing paintings with beautifully rendered water reflections.

Duration: 22 min