Messing about with the river

I've spent an hour today just drawing, mixing media and attempting to capture the mesh of tree reflections from the surface of the river. At first glance I felt a little overwhelmed as to how I was going to get all those complicated shapes tones and colours. (The autumnal colours there are so vibrant and beautiful.) I feel like I'm in the getting to know you stage with this stretch of water and so I'll take baby steps focusing on one bit at a time.

The swatch above was made by laying a watercolour wash and drawing into the wet paint first with watercolour pencils and watching the pigment melt into the surface. Next came acrylic ink, china graph pencil and felt tip pen. Once it had all dried I scratched back into it with a stanley knife taking the surface off the painting to reveal some bright whites. Whilst it was a whole heap of fun to do I'm not sure if it reads as a reflective and moving surface. Maybe if I'd added the line of trees and river bank to show a static contrast the movement of the water would have read better.

The next two swatches are just acrylic. To begin with I put thick paint at the top and using a piece of mount board as a squeegee dragged the paint down. The branches were suggested using a rigger  and then it was back to the mount board to 'print' the highlights on the water. I know most people would have probably used a palette knife but I've never really got on with them. I like the colouring  although I don't think either of them are very successful. As I knew I was just playing today I used some colours that I've had in the drawer for ages and don't normally use, you know the ones that tempt you at the shop and seem a good idea at the time. The cadmiums are those colours for me I've got a tube of cadmium red that I'm sure I got in 1995 and have only opened once. Cadmium yellow light and cadmium orange are what I used here.