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River flow

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Susan O'Sullivan

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Hello, can anyone tell me how you paint a river flowing away from you? I have a specific request from a client and am not sure how to show that it is flowing away and not towards you. Many Thanks

Sylvia Evans

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Not sure if you need to show a direction. If you paint a river flowing it could be going in either direction. . I would go and have a look somewhere , just a little stream could show you. unless there is a waterfall or a weir then it would be the same. I think. Though thinking about perspective e.g. road lines running up a straight road they just get smaller in the distance. Anyone else got any bright ideas....water running away from you ?

Alan Bickley

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The only thing that I can think of, is to add perhaps a broken branch from an overhanging tree, or some rocks. That way you would be able to paint the white water as it flowed over or past these objects, clearly showing the direction of the current.

Sylvia Evans

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I had thought along those lines Alan but still don't see how you show direction . Unless you have a group of rocks and paint the water flowing over the top of them and around them but that would be toward you . But still don't see how you could indicate it flowing AWAY from you. A conundrum.

Susan O'Sullivan

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Thank you so much for your replies, I am starting this project today so fingers crossed. x
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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I stayed well away from this, because I realized I didn't really have an answer - Erebus' picture works because there's a drop in the level of the water, and you can see therefore the direction in which it's flowing. If it were a straight stream, though, without features such as that (a small waterfall, basically) it would be a lot more difficult to establish the direction in which the water was going - I've had a go with a drawing or two, but frankly it could have been going any old way. Looking at photographs, it's not easy to tell either; even perspective doesn't help (well, it didn't help me, anyway!). So I think if I were to venture a word of advice here, I'd have to say go and find your flowing water, establish its direction (it's not that easy to tell even when you're staring at it) and draw or paint whatever you see. Which means - I'm not so sure there's a theoretical answer here; it has to be about practical observation. I would post one of my drawings if it helped, but I don't think it would.... so if there's anyone out there who could better, either from a plein air study or a theoretical sketch, do post it. This is, incidentally, one of the most interesting questions we've had on the forum for some time....... even if I'm not a bit sure I know what the answer is.

Alan Bickley

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If you take the best of what Syd and myself have said, there lies your answer, it's the only way to show the direction of flow. If I get a few minutes tomorrow I will do a quick watercolour sketch to show how it works.

Bill Cook

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I just saw this thread yesterday, and was immediately interested. As a novice landscape painter, I've mainly (always?) encountered images of water flowing towards, rather than away, from the viewer. Not sure why! Anyway, I thought I'd take a look at a watercourse whilst shopping/walking the dog here on Skye & I'm posting a couple of photos in case it helps. I've tried to shoot the same area of the wee river, to show the water flow around the same group of rocks from an upstream and downstream viewpoint. Unfortunately, the light is very directional - ideally the sun should have been at 90 degrees to the river flow. I reckon the best bet would be to look at a "live" subject (not a problem up here: Skye = wet = bogs, burns and rivers!), but maybe this will give someone less fortunate than myself some info (?). Even if it's no use, the dog enjoyed it!!

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by BillCook

With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Does calm water flow? By its very nature, I would assume it just sits where it is... Go and look at a body of water, a stream with direction, and see what it looks like; or consult Chinese paintings of water and see how they did it, if they succeeded in indicating direction of flow at all. You can only indicate movement in relation to something else - in the case of wind, you can indicate it by the direction of objects moved by it, leaves or débris for instance (or flying roof tiles...). In the case of water, which lies for the most part in channels unless it's lake or sea, you're limited to perspective effects which show water falling from higher ground to lower, and the use of longitudinal lines which will be broken by eddies and interspersed with obstacles against which the water breaks. Paint is static, unfortunately; it does not lie within our power to make it move: however, if you show your river descending from one plane to another, it MUST be flowing away from you, since water doesn't flow uphill. How to do that requires a degree of skill, detailed knowledge of perspective, and careful consideration of the land forms in which your water sits. This advice is helpful, I suspect, until you try to apply it - at which point all sorts of difficulties arise.....

Phil Kendall

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Did you mean this river flowing away over your waterwheel powered generator Bill? It would make a good painting...

Sylvia Evans

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Take your pick.....
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Yes, but if you can't see it flowing it might as well not trouble itself to get out of bed .... and it still doesn't help you to know how to paint it. I think I'd bung in longitudinal lines in these circumstances, and then if asked which way it's flowing would look slightly pained and say "surely ... you can tell?". I may even tut, hardly perceptibly.
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