Piankatank Sunrise

Piankatank Sunrise
5" x 7" oil on board


The mattress in my room at the river house is probably as old as the house. It's like sleeping in a creaky hammock with springs poking you on either side.  As usual, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to catch the sunrise. All in all, this took about 10 minutes to make. Hopefully, that's obvious in a good way, not a sloppy, ugly way. If you look closely, you can see a gnat flying into the heart of the sun.

'DIFFICULT Run'

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel


The scene is Difficult Run about a mile up from where the stream empties into the Potomac River in Great Falls State Park.  I painted it on site and the conditions were challenging...This was the first time I had ever tried hiking to a location with my travel easel so there was a bit of a learning curve.   To make matters more difficult, a small piece of the easel that keeps the paint and brush tray from sliding out broke off and all of my supplies emptied onto the ground...then I had to figure out a way to keep the tray from continually sliding out while I was hiking...Once I worked through the glitches though, I really enjoyed painting outside and hiking to my location.  The day was really overcast, which may have made the painting easier because there were fewer lighting changes.  All in all, I like the way the painting turned out and I can't wait to get outside again!