Stranica 93 [93]
REFLEXIONS IN RIPPLED WATER si
drawn to the difference in apparent outline between
the “reflexion” (page 10) and object reflected. For
instance, cows grazing on the side of a hill, across the
still water, that are scarcely visible in the twilight,
may in the reflexion appear to stand out sharply
against the sky-line. If the water becomes ruffled,
the reflexions of these cows are drawn out into long
streaks. hus, an inconspicuous object in such a
position may often cause in gently rippled water a
quite unexpected streak, puzzling the beholder to
account for its existence.
A few words may be added on the subject of the
painting of reflexions in rippled water. We have seen
that, at some distance from the eye, where the elon¬
gated images are formed by reflexion from numerous
wave-surfaces, they seem to be made up of vertical
streaks, whilst nearer at hand these vertical streaks
resolve themselves (as explained on page 34, and
instanced on page 37 in the case of the moon) into a
succession of horizontal lines. It would therefore
appear that in those parts of the water too far off for
the ripples to be separately visible, the effect can best
be imitated by vertzcal strokes of the brush, but in
the foreground, where the ripples assume distinct
proportions, it must be given by a 4orzzontal touch.
In Plate VI, page 32, where the ripples are very
gentle and regular, the reason for this distinction is
evident. Théereflexion of the buildingsonthe opposite
shore is dragged out so that it looks like a series of
vertical lines, whilst that of the mountain peaks in the
foreground is broken up by spaces of sky reflexion
on the near sides of the waves, leaving dark horizontal