Reflections of a reflection

I love this picture as it captures our first roadtrip in our new 4wd camping out west in the bush.

I usually enjoy painting on roadtrips but it was our new car my husband didn’t want me to paint in the car. So for this trip I did more sketching whilst we were driving and then at the stops or when I got home I filled it in with watercolour paint wash aka sketch and wash. I found this was faster to capture the moment as often when I do a painting directly it takes longs as I need to wait for it to dry or the colours run together or if it’s too much movement it ends up half done. Sketching first meant that my colours were not always as accurate when painting from memory so it was more important to take photos.

I liked it so much I did a larger picture in A4 using arches. I made the mistake of copying from my original painting in my journal so the perspective isn’t as accurate. Next time I will go back to using the original reference photos.

The process

I found it difficult to capture the scenery whilst we were driving past so instead whilst sitting in the driver’s seat in my journal I sketched the window and the side mirror first as the frame. I then managed to capture a few pictures on my phone camera, the perfect picture of our convoy – two cars in front, one behind. I love that it shows the front view, and the rear view through the window and then the reflection of the scenery in the side view mirror. Later in the studio I used the different photos to paint the scenary.

Reflections on the approach

This was a different approach to my normal painting style. I can see how painting the frame first makes it faster to paint on location plein air as it would allow you to just focus in on the scenery. To do this it would require a bit of planning particularly since you would need to be sitting in the same spot or location again. For our travels we rarely go back to the same spot and not there for long. But for instances such as the view from our car would be the same. I have seen another artist do this for paintings of the Opera house in Sydney so they can quickly capture the sunset or sunrise.

Ideas for future paintings

I love the idea of painting a reflection of a reflection – through the glass. It is quite metaphoric to be driving forward, moving forward but being able to look back and see your past in the reflection and in doing so you see different views of the same thing.

This concept has potential to depict what is going on in the inner mind regarding the past and the present and still being able to move forward towards your future self.