contrasts and relationships

transparency/overlap
many transparent layers to create illusions of a solid form, from far away
surface texture
glossy is difficult,can't see though it, can't see beyond the surface
but, when you're closer, the glare goes away and you see through the surface, to the layers below.
An overlap gives us a little hint when it does not completely cover what is behind it. But it will reveal far less than a transparency.

flat/gloss
matte is easier to see,
but often only the first layer, so you just see the overlaps, not the actual depth
matte clouds up quickly and hinders the view of what lies beneath

Depth/Surface
reflected light off surface
at different angle there is no glare and depth is seen

real/invented colors
water is blue? green? ochre?
red and orange are high arousal state colors
synesthesia---- excited happiness is orange, passion is red. both are highly aroused states
water doesn't have a color
the color is reflections from the environment
the color is from things suspended in the water

so water, as we know it, is like paint
a transparent medium with elements suspended inside, that make the color
Acrylic medium is transparent, and uses suspended materials to create a color
Linseed oil is also a transparent medium.

one might think of WATERcolor as the natural choice, but the medium can't build up the thickness,
so I needed something that would be a solid, to mimick a "frozen" moment as well as movement.