My Newest Adventure - Painting Silver

Shows Over ©L Watry

My son joined the marching band at his high school this year.  It is our first experience with marching band and as a parent and volunteer, I really enjoyed it.  Not only was their program exciting but getting to see the bands improvement over the season was thrilling. As an artist the marching band opened up a whole new subject matter for me. I have always loved painting reflections and have painted a lot of reflections on water. Now I have a whole new source for reflections in all the musical instruments. I am still working on my first painting from this future series. Here are some of the early stages.

Shows Over ©L Watry

I don't usually start a painting in the foreground like this. But, since this helmet was to be one of my centers of attention, I decided to start with it. I also usually wait to paint detail until the end, however, painting reflections on metal can be very detailed and confusing.  So, I decided to treat each reflection area as a small painting in and of itself.  This method helped me to find all the minute details to depict this subject realistically.

I have started adding the color to the marching band jackets that were laying around the instruments. Not only do they add color to the otherwise very gray/silver color scheme, but they contribute to the reflections seen in the instruments and helmets.  At this point I was starting to work on the main tuba, as well.