Page 93 [93]
OCR
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 elongated 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
