ONA BEACH

Ona Creek Bridge
8 x 6

It is mid-summer, and the tide is out.  I am sitting on the sand, looking up-creek and slightly inland (the creek bends a lot.)  This elegant little footbridge is the gateway to fun on the sand.  Today it is misty, and surprisingly still for this stretch of the Oregon coast.  The bent trees are evidence of the usual weather.

I have set up painting camp under my umbrella, which is wedged into the sand between handle and spokes.  It's just big enough for me to sit under with my paints spread out around me.  Of course, with my palette on the sand I get a lot of grit in the paint.  Evidence that the painting is authentic plein air.

FOOTBRIDGE

Footbridge
12 x 9
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On the way up to Mirror Lake, near Mt. Hood, there's a footbridge over a little creek.  It reminds me of hiking days when our kids were small.  Their dad would run ahead and hide under the bridge.  When we got there, he'd say, in a troll voice, "Who's that walking over my bridge?"  Kids would scramble, there'd be a chase, all great fun.  This little footbridge, of course, harbors no trolls.  Just a magical light dancing across the clear creek water.