Sunday, June 2, 2013

Hunting in the Tall Grass


Pastel on Self-sanded Arches, 15x11


In the morning, the views across the marsh to the line of pine and cedar trees are always full of mystery and contrast.

The summer is coming and the colors are turning from reds and brown to green and gold. The cedar trees provide the solid, deep shadows and the various kinds of marsh grass throw in the color. The pine trees stand above oaks, cedars, and underbrush as “tree herders” watching over their ragged and tangled charges.

June 2, 2013, I added the egret and changed the name. At low tide, the egrets hunt small fish and crabs in the few puddles that remain of the tide, and they hunt lizards in the tall grass. The original painting was done en plein air at Castaway Island Preserve, Jacksonville and submitted under the title "Ragged Marsh," but by adding the egret, I reclassified this as a studio piece.

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