# My first acrylic painting was a mess.. need some advice



## prisoner33

Hi, guys,

I decided to do something for my wall, so I need it big and colorful. Then I watched a tutorial on Youtube and followed step by step. However, the outcome was just a mess.

I painted a city with reflections. I don't need perfect details for the city, so I think the upper half is not too bad, but the reflection is just a disaster.. Although I just want to do "abstract" painting, but I just screwed up...and it looks like horror picture right now...

Can anyone help me on the reflections?


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## RobWilkinson

*practice*

Practice practice and practice. By all means use the web such as ytube for inspiration, and you are not going to get things right first time...every time..unless you are a robot!

I am no expert, but..take a good look at life around you. Look at the sky etc, look at how shadows and light behave. Reflections are tricky at times. Experiment and have fun


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## kdrum

Hey! I agree with Rob! Practice makes perfect! I think you've started a pretty good piece already though. If it were mine, I would leave the concept you have going for the bottom but blend it more. The "reflection" lines drag your eyes to the bottom of your canvas rather than allowing your vision to take in the picture as a whole


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## TerryCurley

Check out this video. https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=C014US91014D20140925&p=wilson+bickford+youtube+city
It's a tutorial by Wilson Bickford and it shows you step by step the whole process. The picture he is painting in this video is very much the same as your picture. He makes the reflection a mirror copy of the building above and then takes a dry brush and just pulls it along the wet paint for the water reflection effect. I've also seen it done with swiping the clean brush back and forth...but be careful not to do too much. Only a very little is needed for the water effect.


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## Sorin

*Paint what you see.*

The new artists often have trubbs analyzing what they SEE and then recreating it. Seems odd on the face of it cuz you've been looking at stuff for years. Still, true. I played with Photoshop just a bit & slightly adjusted the small buildings - not the tall ones. But see if this helps.


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## Noodle

you might find some slow drying medium will keep the paint wet enough for you to create a watery wibbly wobbly effect. as it's a night scene, i think you should just concentrate on the lights reflecting in the water, it should just be blurry.


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## Bushcraftonfire

I, too, had 5 mins to mess with this.. I would definitely blend back some in the water.. Reflections "read better" if they aren't mirror images.. Water movement, shadows, etc all disallow this typically. Anyway.. I am thinking like this.. 










HTH

D


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## leighann

I just love how all of you guys jumped in to help. I know nothing of acrylics or painting reflections, so I can't jump in, but I think that is what this forum is all about. Big hugs to all of you!!


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## buiduchoabdh

Hi prisoner33 !
if you want to paint really shadow , you should paint when the backround color is still wet, 
and Please note the light of windows on the lake ! I think you will have a nice painting in your house !


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## buiduchoabdh

I think it's good idea


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## Asancta

Go and look up some of L. Afremov's videos on youtube.


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## Linzibx

I actually thought it looked ok


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## TerryCurley

Linzibx said:


> I actually thought it looked ok


I agree with you.


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