Smitten

"Summer Stream Dawn"

oil pastel/oil pencil study

(click on image for a larger view)

I just deviated a "tad" from working on the "From the Tallgrass" exhibit this coming summer at Neal Smith NWR, by doing a small (6X12") oil pastel and oil pencil study of the creek down below us here in the valley.  

 

I had been searching for "prairie" material while viewing years of video footage I've taken and came across this wonderful section of the Waterman Creek about a mile and a half south of us and was immediately taken with it.  I have found so many things in the past that have interested me as material for future paintings or drawings, and a familiar thing always seems to happen - I either lose interest or grow less "smitten", or even forget!

I am not an organized person...OK, maybe too much information, but everyone has their short-comings...that's at least one of mine.  I've always relied on my memory and its just not holding up as I pile on new thoughts!  The old "hard drive" is finding a need to delete information as more is downloaded!  That's about as concise as I can put it!

But when I saw this footage from 2012, I really was smitten - I knew it had to be squeezed in NOW, or be deleted or forgotten from memory someday.  So as soon as I finished my last drawing (Big Bluestem, color pencil) I started this sketch immediately.

I really want to do a larger oil painting of this scene, now that I see how well this study works for me.  I hope I do not lose interest (another short-coming 'ADD' perhaps?) and never get back to trying a larger studio piece; but I can't think about that now - Too Much To Do!!!

Back to Work!