Water is a tricky substance to represent in a piece of art since it can be completely transparent and completely opaque at the same time depending on the viewing angle and the angle of the light source. A painting or photograph can capture a fixed view that, while convincing, does not change depending on the angle of view. A sculpture such as my Trout Table can allude to the surface and reflective qualities of water and, will change depending on view angle and lighting but it does not even attempt to address transparency and what lies below. In the following piece I’ve combined an acrylic painting of a section of streambed complete with brown trout, and an overlay of cast, clear epoxy, sculpted and polished to represent the stream surface. The piece remains a snapshot in that the “water surface” does not move, but the painting below changes and responds to the distortion and refraction of light passing through the surface. The degree of transparency is also highly variable depending on view and light angles. I hope the images below give the viewer some sense of the piece.

Allan