“The Bright Side of the Creek” 24″ x 48″ oil and wax on canvas
For several years, my husband and I have photographed several areas on Santiam Pass in Oregon. These trips have always taken place in the fall at the peak of the colorful autumn leaf colors. I always photograph the same scenes and am amazed how different they look from year to year.
This year we went in July to show an out of state visitor the beauties of Oregon scenery and I was able to see the same areas with all green leaves. The rivers and creeks were full of rushing water and all the ferns were bright green, rather than the gold and rusts of autumn.
One of my favorite areas is a creek bed that has a vine maple tree on each side of it near the highway. I have always found it fascinating that one side always has brighter leaves than the other side and enjoy painting it for that reason. So far, I have painted this same scene from different years’ photographs in acrylics, oils and watercolors.
This year’s painting is based on a previous year’s photographs because we couldn’t even locate the scene on our recent trip. With all the green vine maple leaves it just blended in with the background trees. It is pictured above and will be in one of my September shows at the Lawrence Galleries.
