Capturing Reflections Demo in Transparent Watercolor

Known for her highly realistic still-life paintings, Lana Privatera uses layers of transparent watercolor to achieve her signature look. In this demonstration she shows how she seamlessly builds high contrast and bright color in her work. For more on Privatera’s approach to watercolor, along with her bold return to painting after 10 years following a life-changing setback, check out the feature profile in the July/August 2020 issue of Watercolor Artist.

Demo of Recycle by Lana Privitera

Painting intricate reflections with watercolors is not easy. You need to plan your layers and moves very carefully. The larger your painting, the more challenging it becomes to make smooth, clean transitions of color and value. The following is a breakdown of my process.

Step 1

When I plan a new painting, I take some time studying my reference photos. They are rarely perfect when it comes to composition, colors or values. Most of the time I need to add or subtract elements from them. In this case I felt the reference photo needed some diagonal elements. So I added the left top corner spoon with the orange sticker, as well as the smaller spoon with the green sticker in the lower area. Then I muted the color of some of the other stickers and eliminated others.

Once I was confident that my revised composition worked well, I did a free-hand sketch on semi-transparent paper. Then I traced it onto my Arches 140-lb. cold-pressed paper. I used mixes of Da Vinci cobalt blue, burnt siena deep and Winsor & Newton permanent rose to create various shades of gray. And I added Winsor & Newton raw siena for the golden areas, and permanent rose and Winsor blue, alone and combined, for the accents.