6" x 6" oil on board
My fourth painting of this same spot on the Monocacy River - I'll just call it my spot, completed almost immediately after the third painting of the same spot. Remember how I said there was a heat advisory in effect and it was 95 degrees? Well, I felt like I had to get one from the same vantage point I've painted before, so I took a dip in that exact spot there in the shade before I worked up the energy to do my next painting. It was about 2:30 when I started, and the sun was starting to angle down to the west, which meant it was directly in my face. Hot.
Just like the last time I painted here, there were thunderstorms approaching, also from the west. And even though I called it my spot, a Gator-load of the property owner's kids drove up while I was painting, along with their dog who gave me a good sniffing before splashing through the pool right in front of me. He was too fast to paint, though. The kids were friendly, and they told me that there is a bald eagle nest in a tree across the river, which I had not noticed. They swam a little while and then drove off. Technically, I think my spot is below the low water mark, so I'm within my legal rights to stand there and paint.
Just as I got everything packed up, the clouds started to build. I was about a mile upstream from the ramp where I put in, and I thought I had time to make a few casts before paddling back downstream. My "spot" is also right upstream from the best stretch of fishing on this part of the river. There are lots of submerged boulders in deep water, and I've caught some nice smallmouth bass there. Just as I was thinking I'd make my last cast and head back to the car to avoid the storms, a fairly large catfish grabbed my lure, right as I was pulling it out of the water. I use a pretty lightweight setup when I'm fishing for smallmouth, and this was probably a ten pound catfish, so I spent the next ten minutes or more, fighting it. Mainly, I didn't want to lose my lure. Finally, I got him/her in the kayak, took a photo and flew back down the river. I got the kayak on the roof just as the first drops were starting to fall.
Here's the catfish and below that is my last painting of this spot:
