4d. Continuing the Reflections

Yesterday Linda and I drove into Jaco to do some shopping at the Maxi Bodega (grocery store). On our drive back we saw this rainbow. While driving I stuck my camera out the window and took a shot of it. We drove right into it and I thought for sure that I ran over something. Looking in my rear-view-mirror I think I saw some bright shiny gold reflections on the pavement.

Speaking of reflections....

I started adding the reflections from the boat riggings. I began with the most important ones first to make sure they were in the right place. If those aren't right then the whole set will be off. The others will follow one at a time.

Oh, you might have noticed that I have renamed the two boats. My commission client these names. One for himself (Drag-on) and one for his wife (The Duzzi) a nickname derivative of her maiden name. They are such nice people that I am happy to do this.

I chose to do this one in all caps in black, typical of many of these small boats. I went ahead and put in the reflections when I finished.

For "The Duzzi" I made up a fun font and painted it in a blue grey color since it was in the shadows. Then I put in the reflection a little darker.

These names are personal to my client and I love that. They are names that could have been the actual names on the boats, so it doesn't hurt the concept/theme I enjoy painting. 

You can see in this photo how I darkened the reflection of the red bottom paint since reflections are always just a bit darker than the color being reflected. I will add just a touch of bright red on the front edge of the boat in my last round of small lighting touches.

Now I've put in more of the rigging structure.

This closeup shows what these look like as I paint them. While I move my flat brush down I am twisting and turning it to create the feeling that the reflections is bouncing and wiggling around on the water's surface. This photo shows a few pulleys and hardware matching the ones in the actual rigging.

Here's another look towards the left side. I have to make sure that the reflections match the original with things in front of the other things.

And here is where I have stopped today. As I finished the basic rigging reflections I noticed that the reflection from the boat's side windows didn't look right to me, although the photo had something similar. Sometimes I just have to start with what the photo is showing to get things going. Then, I come back and make them my own –– the way I think they work best.

In this case I removed a piece of side window reflection and added in the three little vents. If you compare this with the photo towards the beginning of this post where the window reflection has three parts, you will see that one of them does not line up with the reflection of the front window next to it. That's what tipped me off that the reflection was wrong.

As a reminder, this is the photo I am working from. Its not that its reflections are not beautiful in the photo. They are just not my reflections. Again, I'm not trying to copy the photo. I just want to use it as a good starting place for a painting!

This is Chito and Pocho showing off to tourists. As I understand the story, Chito found a young Pocho hurt on the side of the river near his home on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. He felt sorry for him and nursed him back to health, thinking he would go back to where he came from. He didn't. Instead, he never left Chito's side again as they became best friends. After learning to play in the water with Pocho, Chito thought that maybe tourist might pay to see them play. And they do. 

By the way, don't try this at home. Not all Crocs are this tame!

While I'm at it, here is a tour guide taking big chances for the entertainment of the tourists. You can see this on "Crocodile Man Tours" here on one of the Pacific coast rivers.

Until next time.....Pura Vida from Costa Rica!