Painting Glass

Painting Glass
November 7, 2014


This is a good place to write everything I have learned about painting glass.   Joe Anna Arnett's workshop was very helpful with this.   I'll picture some of the paintings I've done that show glass.  I was looking at Carol Camichael's Blog that shows a good photo of glass. 

Here the link to her blog:  http://www.carolcarmichaelpaints.com/2014/10/for-friend.html

It really shows how she painted what is in the glass and the highlights.  Nice one!

1.  PAINT FROM LIFE.  The highlights show up best this way.  Much better than a photo would show the highlights.  Use a light shining on the object and be sure no other lights in the room make highlights that could cause confusion.

1.  Paint what is in the glass or behind the glass.  It takes some careful observation because sometimes things are distorted especially the background.

3.  The waterline has a highlight at the edge with a darker value next to it  (under the water line).   If you are painting flowers with leaves and stems they go into the flat surface of the water and with distortion look like they are coming out in a little different place.  The flat surface of the water reflects what is about it. 

4.  There is usually a highlight at the front edge (top and bottom) which comes out the other side of the glass.  Also, look for a highlight where the light hits the object usually towards the middle. 

5.  The color of the contents of the glass usually reflect strongly on the flat surface.  Carol Michael's painting shows that well. 

It' all about the highlights......    I haven't mastered it yet, but keep trying.