Waves on Calm Waters

Waves on Calm Waters, a photo by Paul&Siu on Flickr.

Chinese landscape painting is referred to as "mountain-water" in Chinese.   Clearly water is an important element.   Water serves many functions.  A calm lake can expand the space, and calm the mind as in the current picture.  
Here,  the lake is calm, but not a still calm.  We can tell from the reflections.  As there are minor waves in the water,  the reflections of the shore objects are broken up, as in the boat's mast.  Near the shore, the water is rendered by a series of "dragging" strokes, pointy at both ends and wider in the middle.   A few of them together gives the idea of calm waves.
For the shore in the foreground, we use similar strokes to provide the water.  These are like reflections of the sky.  Reflections of the rocks themselves require a more definite form.  This is done by a sideways application of the brush. 
The composition leads the eye to the far shore overshadowed by high mountains.  A classic "mountain-water" idea.