Derwent Reflections

Oil on Board, 12 x 17 inches

This was a painting I did at Patchings Art Festival in June, finished off in the studio yesterday.

Running from Derwent Water along Borrowdale, this is a handsome river with crystal clear water threading through the rocky valley.  Painting still water reflections is relatively simple, merely replicating what is above the water.  Similarly, fast, turbulent water crashing down rocks is fairly straightforward with lots of 'white water', but swift running, clear water is a different kettle of fish altogether.  Reflections are broken by the fast moving current and you can see through the water to the river bed below to further complicate matters.

It was the small tree growing out of the rocks that caught my eye, appearing bright against the darker water and far shoreline, and I made plenty of the stark tracery of sunlit branches.