Evergreen Lake Spring - Watercolor

"Evergreen Lake Spring" Watercolor

After a tiresome winter, it's finally spring at Evergreen Lake where everything appears back in perfect order. The trout are jumping, ducks are quacking and dippers are dipping.

Rushing out of the rugged Front Range, Bear Creek becomes a lazy river as it enters the wide reservoir. The painting’s foreground features sparkling highlights that flicker across the pond’s icy inlet.

On land, the variety of fresh vegetation displays a rich diversity of size, shape and color. Known as Elephant, the big, gray butte concludes the background while wispy, white clouds sweep across a cerulean sky.

An arched footbridge transports the ambler to a winding boardwalk through a marsh of soggy cattails. The yellow reeds are a place where red-wings make a ruckus over food, relationships and intrusion.

Despite the blackbirds' protestations, most creatures consider the warmer weather a Godsend. Pressed beneath an arctic crush, we welcome spring as an uplifting prelude before the way-too-short summer season.

Comments

  1. Ryan K BiddulphApril 21, 2018 at 5:41 PM

    Beautiful painting Dan. It feels like Spring. Even though we are heading deep into Fall here in New Zealand ;)

    Ryan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dan MillerMay 3, 2018 at 8:38 PM

      Thanks so much Ryan. We are having a wet spring so I'm looking forward to nicer weather this summer. New Zealand must be such a beautiful place. Good luck this winter.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lair O' the Bear and Dunafon Castle

Image
The restored Dunafon Castle Lair O' the Bear Park is nestled in a steep canyon about six miles east of Evergreen, Colorado. John and Matilda Johnson emigrated from Sweden with their two young boys and purchased the narrow meadow in 1902. They named it Mountain Nook Ranch, built a four-bedroom house and raised Red Durham cattle. Their two sons, Finis and Francis, attended school in nearby Starbuck, now known as Idledale. It was originally named for John Starbuck who won the town property in a poker game. John Johnson was a master gardener and his popular, fresh produce was sold in Evergreen and Denver. They planted over 200 cherry and apple trees in the area. If you look closely many can still be found throughout the park today. The unruly Bear Creek sculpted the beautiful scenery and provided the needed irrigation for productive crops but it also wreaked plenty of havoc. There was a constant fear of extreme flooding. The Lariat Trail (Highway 74 today) crossed Bear Creek s...
Read more

Ibis - A Symbol for Danger and Optimism

Image
White Ibis The white ibis is a wading bird that is very common throughout Florida. Their traditional habitat has always been the Everglades but they've recently adapted to a more urban environment. During our visit there this past summer, we frequently saw ibises on freshly mowed lawns rooting for large bugs as well as stalking aquatic prey along the shoreline of ponds, lakes and marshes. These splendid, white birds have evolved a long, downward-curved bill. This distinctive feature has helped them develop into efficient hunters. Their legs are long enough to wade in shallow water but they are also perfectly at home on dry land where they can use their pink beak to probe for insects. The white ibis is a symbol for danger and optimism because Native American folklore held that the bird was the last to seek shelter before a hurricane and the first to emerge afterwards.
Read more

An Approaching Storm - Colored Pencil Drawing

Image
"An Approaching Storm" Colored Pencil In the midst of an already grievous winter, an approaching storm gradually extinguishes the landscape’s last sliver of light. The inclement weather rushes in aggressively as it envelopes the magnificent range of rugged peaks. Extending across the page, a strip of turquoise sky is still visible above the embattled scenery. It won’t be long, though, before a cloak of cool-gray smothers the valley in a shroud of deep snow. The high mountains assume a defiant posture as their sharp edges tear through the soft atmosphere, creating patches of bare rock. The kaleidoscope of broken terrain sparkles in blue-violet before the impending storm’s onset. The forested foothills are distinguished by three different, overlapping tiers of conifers. As the woodland ramparts recede into the distance, the wintery colors gradually become several shades bluer. The wide, white meadow sweeps across the foreground, its smooth surface decorated with elongated shado...
Read more