Week 142

Can you remember the excitement of waking up on your birthday? When you are married, you get to be excited twice…

Getting out of bed a little easier than usual, I woke the kids and shuffled them to their schools. As I came back home to grab Laert, the birthday boy, the excitement kept building. Cold air stung our cheeks and steamy vapor escaped our lips as we walked outside, easels slung over our backs, down into the creek bed. The winter sun was still rising. Steam was lifting dramatically from the water into the February air and the sloshing from our wading boots was the only sound. We found a place where the water bent twice and the sun was beginning to reflect an electric light over the play in the water. Dazzled, we set up quickly. It was a challenge to paint into the brilliant sunlight. It blazed through the canvas, creating illusions on the painting side and sometimes blinding us as it made its journey higher into the morning sky. But our brushes worked quickly, driven to capture the light, the wind, the chill and the growing warmth that made the birds begin to sing. This was the first plein air painting we did together on Mary’s Creek. Painting in this way, especially in the cold, early morning, held a sacred quality. It was a magic communion with the earth and each other. Nature allowed us to see her unveiled in a raw beauty as the rest of the world was just starting to waken.

Marys Creek En Plein Air

12 x 24

Oil Painting on Canvas