To paint water you must be able to see abstractly. Turn off the literal tendencies of your mind. See it as a mosaic of shapes and patterns that cleverly knit together. Even reflected objects are not recognisably mirrored in anything but the calmest water surface because the tiniest disturbance will distort and play with the forms. Water is excellent to paint because it forces us to really look at our subject - all too often when we paint an object we look at it then turn to our canvas and paint our preconceived idea of that object. Case in point - when we look at a very familiar object like an apple we will then turn away and paint the image of "apple" that is imprinted on our mind since childhood. How many of us really see the object as it is. We have to abandon all preconceptions and view our surroundings as though we have never seen them before, as though we have just arrived from outer space or woken from a coma with amnesia. When you begin to paint, look at everything as though you are seeing it for the first time then you will capture it's likeness. Live everyday like this and you will be perpetually in awe at the phenomena's that surround you and which you have long taken for granted.
