Stranica 142 [142]
OCR
80 LIGHT AND WATER a stream, we require three conditions to help us: Ist, to look down into the water as vertically as possible; 2nd, bright sunshine to light up the bed of the stream; and 3rd, to be able to get into such a position that the reflexion of the bright sky is cut off by the image of a tree or other dark object. So we see that the two pictures presented to us when we look at the water, the one formed by light reflected at the surface, and the other by light coming from beneath the surface (whether the latter consist of stones, weeds or other objects distinctly visible beneath the surface, or only a general impression of colour), are, as it were, always contending with each other for pre-eminence, and that each is largely dependent, not only on the angle of vision, but also on the amount of its illumination as compared with that of its rival. The whole ground covered by this chapter is so admirably expressed by Ruskin in his “ Elements of Drawing,‘ that we cannot do better than quote his words as far as they serve to illustrate the points we are here concerned with. | ‘When you are drawing shallow or muddy water, you will see shadows on the bottom, or on the surface, continually modifying the reflections; and in a clear mountain stream, the most wonderful complications of effect resulting from the shadows and reflections of the stones in it, mingling with the aspect of the stones themselves seen through the water. Do not be frightened at the complexity; but, on the other hand, do not hope to render it hastily. Look at it well, making out everything that you see, and distinguishing each " Sixth edition, pages 179-182.
