Day 8. On Trying New Things In Old, Familiar Places

“Tchefuncte and Clouds” 12×12, oil on canvas $150

There’s a little spot of land about a mile from my house where the golf course backs up to the Tchefuncte River. To say it is beautiful is a disservice. It’s other-worldly but difficult to notice because it’s so readily available. I don’t have to take a plane to get there or book the trip months in advance. It’s just there. Whenever I want it. I visit almost daily– on a walk or bike ride.

It’s a place I think of as mine. Well, maybe Ezra’s too. “There’s your river, ” I tell him often. And then the Pocahontus song starts playing in my mind– “You think you own whatever land you land on…”

But I call it his because I love what it is to me. Ours. The best part of motherhood, I have found, is sharing subtle, nearly invisible things with a mind eager to know more, to see more.

This is my first EVER landscape. I did an underpainting with a brush then used a palette knife on top. It’s from a photo I took months ago when the clouds were so perfect I lost my breathe for half a second.

I’m going back out to this spot with my paints. This way I can compare the plein air version with this one.