Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/178

 Shadows and reflections both bow to the law of perspective. Reflections in water, we are told, are geometrical but not pictorial. Objects are repeated in water geometrically.

All reflections of lines parallel with the surface of the water vanish on the horizon at the same point.

For example, we sketch two upright posts supporting a beam of wood.

The beam diminishes as it inclines toward the horizon; carry on these diminishing lines till they meet on the horizon.

The lines in the beam of wood reflected in the water are parallel with those in the actual beam above; these too must incline to the same vanishing point.

If a bridge is sketched with the curve of its arch reflected in the water, the reflection must incline toward the same horizon and the same vanishing point.

It is quite possible that you are a keen observer, and that your quick eye has already noticed these facts. Nevertheless there is no harm in impressing them upon you. Water is exceedingly deceptive. The rippling play of the winds on the surface and the break of the waves are apt to lead the eye astray. Which point was realized by many of the Old Masters, who safeguarded themselves by omitting reflections and painting sky and water with the same colour and the same brush.

Now for a final observation; perhaps you have not noticed that the reflection of the sun and the moon, the stars and the clouds, are the same distance below the horizon as the originals are above.

It is by no means uncommon to find a young student neglecting shapes and proportions of shadows; and here perspective holds out a helping hand.

The extent of the shadow is ruled by the position of the source of light.

When the sun is high in the heavens the shadows are comparatively short. When the sun is sinking the rays elongate. That is a matter of pure observation. Even a baby will