The Mouth of the Creek

The Mouth of the Creek

8' x 10" oil on panel

There's a spring-fed pond on the property by our family's cabin that's absolutely great for fishing and swimming.  On one side the pond spills over into a little creek that, down the hill a ways, turns into quite a rushing flow of water. Often times this area is all dammed up by the busy beavers that like to build their structures here.  On this day, however, it was flowing freely.  It was an overcast morning, (rather chilly for mid-summer in TN,) peaceful and quite, save for the trickling of the water, the croaking bullfrogs and the quail all around whistling their "bob white!" chirps to each other.  This is truly one of the greatest gifts of plein air painting- to be out in nature, present, still and focused, taking in all the sounds, smells and sensations, while attempting to capture some fleeting beauty in a reflection, a light, or a shadow.