Water Painting Techniques

I examined a traditional painting of water and tried to figure out how the layers of the paint were applied.

John Constable

The Sea near Brighton

1826

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-the-sea-near-brighton-n02656

In this painting I can see the reflection of the sky in the water. it looks like the reflections are painted as a first layer and the highlights of the water are added afterwards.

To explore this technique I took an online course:

https://www.craftsy.com/painting/classes/reflections-in-acrylic-depicting-light-on-water/57797

In this I learnt to paint the sky reflections as a base layer:

Add the land and darkest reflections of the land

The add another layer of horizontal ripples over the sky reflections using perspective to increase the distance between the ripples across the water

I'd like to try making a mono print in layers like this but might leave out the land to keep it simple, or possibly add the land as a final layer if I decide I want to.