Painting Reflections in Metal

 Often times, I have 2 paintings going at the same time.  This one is happening in my studio at the University.  Learning to paint shiny metal is intimidating at first.  However, it is also really fun once you get the idea.

To begin, I primed the paper with Raw Sienna to tone it down just a tad.  This means I will need to use brighter hues in a few spots for contrast.

On top of the Raw Sienna wash over the paper, the fruit areas were painted in with blue hues to set their shadow/light areas.   The pitcher is a silver toned metal, so a painting of it has to be that color, too.  Before any reflections can be added to it, a foundation of grey is laid down first.  That foundation is the new lightest value of the pitcher shape.

I begin the reflections in a fairly pale value as that leaves me room to adjust them as I need to.

The fruit reflections and a tiny portrait of me come in next.  You can see on the left side of the pitcher area that the fruit shape has been under painted in preparation for the local, or natural, color to be added.  

In the reflected oranges, I painted a black/indigo mixture under them before adding the local color as shown above.  The reflections should be the color of the fruit plus the color of the metal they are painted into. They also reflect from the lip of the pitcher area and will reflect, or cast color onto the surface they are sitting on.  

As I paint the oranges and their shadows, I'll be able to see how to adjust the values in the reflections of the pitcher area.  So far, I'm planning on a very dark background, which will also affect the values of the subjects of the painting.  Every thing that gets added to a piece affects what is already in it.  A painting is a series of adjustments until that magical moment it is finally finished.  As this progresses, I'll post it to finish this concept.