62 Watercolor artist | AUGUST 2019
Watercolor Essentials
The Look of Water
Follow these tips and tricks to paint bodies of water
that reveal their true nature.By Kris Parins
Y
ears ago, when I was fi rst
becoming serious about water-
color painting, I’d sit at the end
of our dock staring at the lake, strug-
gling to fi gure out what makes water
look like water. What are the visual
cues? How do we know at a glance,
even at a distance, that it’s wet? Here
are some of my random generaliza-
tions, along with three specifi c
areas—value, color, and refl ections
and shadows—to consider when
painting water.- Th e surface of a body of water
seeks fl atness, and the horizon above
a body of water is level. - Refl ections are the biggest clue
that a surface is wet. - Distant water refl ects; near water
is more transparent. - Waves in the distance appear
smaller, closer together, less defi ned
and lighter than those in the
foreground. - Waves on small bodies of water
can be large swells or hard-edged
pointed shapes, refl ecting earth on
one side and the sky on the other. Or
they can appear as myriad small dim-
ples that fracture refl ections. - Th e distant shore of a lake or
stream often has a lighter band along
the bank, separating the foliage
from the refl ection.- Water needs to be painted in
a fresh and transparent manner to
be convincing. - Values are more important than
colors when painting water; water
doesn’t have to be blue. - A minimal number of horizontal
lines that are lifted with a thirsty
brush informs viewers that they’re
seeing water.
VALUES
Getting the values (degree of light-
ness or darkness) correct is far moreIn Tufted Puffi ns II
(watercolor on paper,
14½ x21½ ), the birds had
a stone cliff behind them,
which darkened the
appearance of the water;
in this case, there weren’t
any sky refl ections.