Thamescraft II by Chris Howkins

Beautiful rendering of reflections in water. Both these paintings are very striking.

I agree with Jane reflections are superb:)LInda

Lovely water reflections and striking colours.

Thank you Jane, Linda and Glennis. I decided to move on from the drybrush textured colours of the tree trunks to the wet-in-wet colours of the reflections.

Love your use of colour....super painting.

Fantastic painting of water ... it looks wet, the most difficult thing to pull off - I've painted water that looks like tarmac so often that I could tear my hair out at times; but I hope I can learn from you.

Beautifully painted water with wonderful reflections. Great colours.

Thanks again everbody; you are most encouraging. Robert - I can produce tarmac too! - and just have with an attempt at daffodils reflected in a village pond. I decided I was being too careful and ended up fiddling around and the paint dried out. So for the Thamescraft paintings I decided firstly what I was going to simplify down. Then I rehearsed the painting process in my head before a dummy run with clean water to 'get the hang' of the size of brush movements because I knew speed was essential. Finally I took heed of what we read in the Artist magazine about putting enough paint on the palette, using the largest brush possible and loading it with as much paint as it will take. Then I slapped it on and pushed it around - all the colour mixes were made on the board not the palette. Trick - I added quite a lot of Windsor and Newton Acrylic Extender, because it makes the paint more fluid without becoming 'watery', it slows down the drying process for better blending, and it destroys sharp edges. I accepted what I got rather than trying to force my will on it. After leaving it to dry thoroughly the detailing was added - where I wanted that to blend I painted pure extender over the area first and worked the detailing into it. It was glazed with Windsor and Newton Acrylic Gloss Medium at each stage to bring up the vibrancy. The rest was down to beginner's luck ! Hope that helps. I enjoyed looking at your work too; the one that has stuck in my mind is Under the Branches.

Lovely use of colour, beautiful reflections and lighting

Fantastic water Chris, a lovely painting.

Terrific water and reflections, I tried much the same technique but does'nt come near to this. Well done.