Thursday, September 13, 2007

NEWHALEM CREEK




Newhalem Creek has become one of my favorite places. Despite lots of photographs, I’m still enchanted with painting its spills and rocks in person. Water moving through three-dimensional space is rich with possibilities. My favorite subject is a large slab of bedrock that crosses the creek, spilling water over cracks and breaks. Move a few feet, and it looks like boulders; move again and water shoots out from an angled wall.

Changes in light create still more combinations. The rocks look light blue in the sun, warmer beige in the shade. Sun filters through the trees in patches, moving from the west bank, dappling the midstream rocks, then lighting up the east.

The sound of the stream soothes my ears, stills my sense of time. I am in the center, and at peace.

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