The lovely serpentine shapes of rivers and streams attract life like a magnet, whether to feed, drink, swim, play, fish or paint! If you are a long way from the ocean, remember this is a world of many rivers. Painting opportunities are everywhere, even in our own backyards. Rivers may be as impressive as the Mississippi or the Nile or as dramatic as the Colorado or the Rhine. They even can be as small as a backyard stream. They all provide us with endless opportunities.
It may seem difficult to capture this subject effectively. Sometimes our efforts look as though the water must go spilling off the side of the page. We may have trouble seeing the perspective correctly, but rivers and streams do follow the rules of perspective. Look closely—they are generally narrower and higher in the picture plane in the distance. Often there is less detail the farther back they go. Look for ways to suggest aerial perspective and your paintings will ring true.
It may help you draw your river in the picture plane accurately if you pay attention to the negative shapes that surround it. If you wish, draw a border around your intended subject and look at the landforms between that line and the edge of the body of water. Note that the stream often seems to widen perceptibly at bends in the river; this particular spot also had a small oxbow to the left where the old river channel used to be.
WHITE RIVER, SHEPHERD’S COUNTRY
Watercolor pencil on Canson Montval rough watercolor paper
7" × 5" (18cm × 13cm)
I was on a promontory overlooking the White River in southern Missouri and was rewarded with this aerial view to work from. The wind was blowing hard, so I just did a quick sketch but was happy with the result nonetheless. I liked the dark sky and shadowed hills in the background and the more pastel-looking landscape that waited in the sun for the storm to hit. Watercolor pencils work wonderfully for such sketchy handling. If you like to draw, you will love their versatility, allowing you to turn your drawing into a painting with a few strokes of a watercolor brush.