glen again

Today I was back at Parfrey's Glen (see March 26 post) a beautiful spot near Madison WI. On this mild spring afternoon, melting icicles added drips and splashes to the watery sounds of the small stream, which over eons has carved this deep gorge. A late snowfall had left the trail icy and very slippery in places (I did wonder just how crazy I was to be hiking up there alone)...but lots of green shoots were coming up and the moss glowed against the remaining drifts.

The painting shown here was inspired by memories of visiting this spot a number of years ago with my two boys. (I have reworked it a bit since my original posting of it in March, enhancing the color and softening the darks and lights a bit.) That visit was in the fall, and the high contrasts in the painting evoked for me the drama of the setting--they weren't meant to be realistic. But the funny thing is that today, the actual colors around me corresponded very closely to the colors in the painting--the snow, dark rock and new spring greens. Today I saw my painting over and over again along the trail.

The stop at the Glen helped break up a long day of driving to and from Madison to deliver my paintings to Marina Broere for my upcoming show at her gallery in Milwaukee. She and her husband kindly met me mid-way, to spare me the last leg of the drive from Madison to Milwaukee. We had a nice lunch at a Chinese place before transferring paintings from my van to their truck. I felt some relief at having this body of work change hands, at least for the next month or so. I'm ready to take a small break and then move on with new pieces already begun.  ¶ 7:36 PM