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REFLEXIONS IN RIPPLED WATER 4:
floating swan in gently rippled water; the upright
neck is represented by a long and well-marked vertical
streak, whilst the body of the swan is lost among the
ripples. Plate XIII, showing the action of a light
breeze on the farther side of the pond, is a good in¬
stance of this tendency of rippled water to emphasize
the vertical lines.
These ‘‘streaky” reflexions, so characteristic of
moving water, are perhaps seen at their best when
the ripples are large* and unruffled by the slightest
breeze, and the water assumes that oily appearance
so often seen at sea ona perfectly calm day. The
rocky shore will now cast no definite image, its re¬
flexion being apparently made up of innumerable up¬
right streaks of every shade, a dark shadow or stain
on the rocks giving rise to a dark streak in the water,
and a white stone or other light object yielding a light
streak. Each of these streaks is composed of a suc¬
cession of short horizontal lines or may consist of
one continuous descending zigzag. On a small sheet
of water the ripples are necessarily small also, and
though in that case the general effect may be much the
same, the greater charm is undoubtedly given by the
way in which the larger ripples break up the vertical
streaks of which the reflexions are composed into
patches or waving lines of colour—an effect which
lends itself to bold treatment on the canvas. This
familiar effect is, however, not easy to imitate correctly
' The Zarge ripples here assumed are due to some distant dis¬
turbance in the water. Ripples caused by the immediate action of
the wind are far smaller than these and their sides are steeper, so
that the image is nearly obliterated.