It is complicated drawing the myriad reflections of light through a clear glass of water. To be precise, one has to take the time to figure out the tonal values of overlapping reflections, refractions and shadows. If drawing outside, one can’t take too long, or the sun will move and tonal variations will change.
Sometimes sketching is just to nail down a memory.
My notes tell what I was trying to portray in the sketch on the opposite page. I didn’t quite achieve the ‘pop’-i-ness that I saw in real life. I’m not sure that I could have accomplished this with the tools I had at the time. Perhaps if I separated the trees with a white value brighter than the paper white, I would have reached my goal.
My annotations on this sketch remind me of the surfaces I was trying to render. I captured the matte finish of the rim of the flower pot; I’m not so sure about the shiny white enamel of the base. Neither the matte nor the shiny surfaces show much tonal variation. I could have added white chalk to the shiny part to give a the base a brighter value than that of the paper.
I was trying to find the key to getting the highest contrast between leaf surfaces and the space between them. Complimentary colors are supposed to provide maximal contrast at their interface, so I tried it (see below). I wasn’t too happy with it although, in fairness, I should have done a whole hedge to see if it worked. Also, I might not have chosen the correct red/green pigments for the ideal complimentary color combination.
