Portraying:

Reflections on water

by Tissa Hewavitarane

I must admit that I am a complete addict when it comes to painting water. When I walk passing a river, stream, lake or pond, I have the irresistible urge to stop and observe the movement of water, the ripples and how the reflection falls. Pictures of water scenes sell well. Let us start with the main faults that crop up in portraying water.

There is no doubt about what the most common fault is, it is over-elaboration, trying to put in every ripple and patch of light that momentarily catches your eye, most of which move around with the breeze away. It is even worse with flowing water.

First let us start with the river. Imagine you are standing by the banks of the Kelani river. It is fairly a calm, smooth river but the reflections are completely broken by those moving patches of light which confuse things.

Always try to imagine the river as a soft mirror, reflecting everything above it. Apart from when it is muddy and in flood a river firstly reflects the colour of the sky, be it blue or stormy grey.

Secondly, it reflects the things that surround it such as trees, bridges, human figures or animals, all upside down. One thing that has dawned on me over the years is just how little you need to do when you are painting a river to make it look authentic - a whole area can be just left as flat wash.

There are a couple of tricks which I always find most effective when I am depicting rivers. One is that where the river goes round a bend I leave a little patch of light which seems to give a hint of mystery.

Another process which is quite good for putting depth into an otherwise fairly flat river is to turn the picture upside down, wet the whole river area with clean water and immediately put a strong dark across what is now the top, graduating it down to nothing as it comes to the end of the river. When it is dry turn the picture upright and you get quite an exciting illusion of depth.

Reflections in general obey certain laws of nature. Some water reflects the sky like a mirror but rough water picks up and relays the light from many directions either darker or lighter than the sky depending on the prevailing conditions. Water in a stream tumbles in some parts and flows in others.

Observe its movements carefully for quite a long time and then try and paint a generalisation of this movement. Brush strokes should follow the action of the water.

Do not put down every ripple because rushing water looks much better when it is understated and the absence of detail gives an impression of rapid movement. Observe how I have used rhythmic brush strokes to impart a sense of movement and encourage the eye to follow the progress of water.

Note the contrast between the water which is painted with thin paint and very light tones and the landscape with two trees on the left painted with more definition and stronger tones.

The circular movement of the brush strokes depicting the reflections of the trees on water generates a sense of life and movement and makes us feel actively involved in the picture. Painting reflections in water takes years of practice and close study the way the reflections behave.