The next element of the layout I wanted to work on was the riverfront. The flats and the marshes lie near the River Thames, and I wanted to replicate the look of the river.

My first decision was to avoid the use of too much blue when painting the river. The Thames is a tidal river, and when seen from a distance it appears to be grey with flecks of green and brown. I started by painting the river area using neutral grey acrylic craft paint (Daler Rowney Neutral Grey No.084). Before the grey paint dried, I lightly touched the surface of the wet paint with green paint (Reeves Oxide Chromium Green) which naturally blended in with the grey paint to produce the look of shallow, tidal water.

Once this had dried, I painted the river area with a lighter grey acrylic paint wash (Reeves Medium Grey) to which I had added a single drop of light blue (Boldmere Cerulean Blue). The end result was a murky grey river that had a tint of blue and green.

I then finished it off with four coats of polyurethane gloss varnish.

Whilst I was varnishing the river, I varnished the inundated parts of the marsh.