Along the Narrows

Painted in acrylic on birch panel. Process: Series of glazes over monochromatic base coat. Inspiration: A view of the river as seen on a sharp bend in the highway near my studio. I was intrigued by the striking folded bedrock of the river, leading to several hikes and studies of this particular bend in the river. As it turned out, this section of river has an entire history associated with an 1870's bet to navigate it, a fascinating foray into history I never realized until I started looking closer at the landscape I was painting. I chose to depict the river on a cloudy day - not a beautiful sunny one - as that seemed to enhance the incredible reflective qualities of the water. Lack of directional light was indeed a challenge, as was the myriad of greens everywhere. One time when I was working on a study for this painting, several geese abruptly crested the hill before gliding down into the narrow river valley to the fields beyond. Above all, the atmospheric mood and serenity of the river is what I sought to capture.