#2768 "Long Reach Swimming Rock in April"

#2768 "Long Reach Swimming Rock in April"
oils on canvas

It was a beautiful Good Friday so I headed out to paint and to enjoy the blustery spring weather. Communing with nature can be a wonderful way to celebrate a Good Friday. I set up my easel in the lee of the old maple stump which was painted in #2743 "Black Rat Maple". I was sheltered a bit from the wind gusts. 

I was looking across the outlet of Jim Day Rapids toward a mostly submerged marble rock. The spring floods almost drown that smooth knob of rock but in the summer, it is enjoyed by many people who just want a quiet place to swim and relax. The afternoon sun reaches that shoreline and it is generally protected, from the wind. 

In my painting, the morning sunlight was filtered by the sparse forest of that portion of Long Reach. Some of that light reached the swimming rock and briefly lit it up. 

The beavers had chewed off the tops of several trees that I was trying to protect. The winter snow had been deep enough that the beavers could reach the trunks above the wire cages that I had wrapped around the little trees. They were only doing what beavers do but I will need to put up taller mesh around the hardwood trees that have survived so far. 

The water was still much too cold for swimming for me but it would be acceptable in another month. 

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Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick