Problems with water

[shellcrackerjr]

I could not get the water to look like the reference pic. Any suggest on how to do the water. I attached the photo and the painting.

[arenhaus]

Well, you don't *need* to trace a photo exactly, you know. Photos are treacherous.

But in this case you can just make the reflections darker and "wobbly". You have the edges too straight and the colors too like the reflected objects. Make reflections slightly tinted and showing the distortion from little ripples. On such quiet waters these will be small, and evident only around the edges. I think that would work.

[jvolkel]

Like arenhaus said, your reflections need to be a little darker. The green boat also needs a shadow at the water line. It's hard to tell color gradation on a posted painting, but on my screen it looks like your water is all one tone of blue, maybe a little darker at the top. Check the reference again and you will see that the water is definitely darker near the bottom. This is because the water reflects the sky color which is darker overhead (closer to you) than it is at the horizon (farther away from you). Sometimes you can place small light horizontal streaks (water lines) near the boats to help enforce the water image. These should be blurred a little. Hope that helps.