This is Guerrilla painting at it's best: waste deep in Thompson Lake, slapping oils on a small plein air study with three Herrons perched twenty feet above me pooping every ten minutes. The Herron poop made quite a splash from it's twenty foot freefall and landed only a few feet away from me each time. (I couldn't help but wonder if they were critiquing) It stirred my concentration but warmly reminded me that I was waste deep in nature.
I have been coming to my brother-in-laws cottage on Thompson lake for seven years now and have always photographed this little shack when I'm here. About two years ago I watched a family of otters playing and fishing around it all afternoon, it's a great shack with pleanty of character. I knew I would come back and paint it someday.
Today was that day. I took the kayak and paint box to this remote area and set up in the water. I wasn't happy about painting into the sun but this was the best I could do if I wanted to paint the shack, the water was too deep on all other sides. Sometimes it's not about the perfect compositon and lighting, sometimes it's about just enjoying the process and experience. This was definitely one of those days.
Check out the red dragonfly that landed on my paintbrush in the color finish.
sounds like you had a very funny afternoon ducking the heron poops. not sure i'd be able to stick to the task at hand with all that going on...but you did a swell job in your little painting of the otter shack.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, it was a great afternoon. I was relieved when I finished the painting and managed to avoid getting splattered. Clearly, the Herrons were relieved all afternoon.
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