Finding My Voice

Looking is a large part of the activities of an artist. Some artists look inside and others look out more. This summer, I decided I would visit the parks in Pinellas county to look for my inspiration. Today, I went to Brooker Creek and walked one of the trails. Brooker Creek is a nature preserve and has an educational center which was closed today. It was beautiful! I took lots of photos while I walked; in fact, I ran the batteries in my digital camera down completely. Here's one of the photos that I took and an oil sketch that I did from it.

I liked the way the sun glared on the water and how the reflection seemed clearer than the reality. My painting is just an impression of the work.

There was no one else hiking and it was very quiet. There were no birds singing and no squirrels chattering. I did see a peahen on the drive in; the drive that leads to the parking lot is about a mile long. And later, I saw a snake hold its head up looking toward me as it slithered across the path ahead as well as a few blue dragonflies flittering their transparent wings. Those are the only animals I saw during the whole walk.

The feeling of quiet beauty, the shadows that were dark and hardedged one minute and soft the next, the blue sky and the dark clouds, the dragonflies, the glistening drops of dew on the strange grasslike lichens on the path . . . Those gave a certain mood/ flavor that I would like to try to capture. I'll make another attempt.