This is an original oil on canvas called Creek II. It is of a local scene, of a creek curving back into space. This is the second creek painting I've done; the first was smaller and more naturalistic (natural colors of the landscape). This one is more expressionistic in character - the colors are brighter and heightened, the brushstrokes are more visible, and the composition is more gestural and full of curves. Besides the appeal of the curving creek as a vertical, gestural compositional element, I felt in this image the sacredness of the land. I used metallic gold paint, as well as vermilion red, which are two colors used in medieval and Renaissance painting, particularly in representing sacred subject matter, such as Christ and other biblical figures. I also used intense greens and blues, a lot of lavender, with some earth colors. The two trees at the top of the image look like a dancer to me, an unintentional effect, however when I look at nature I often see visual movement similar to that of a dancer. The trees look like a dancer with arms raised and one leg forward in a ballet pose. From the horizon line, compositional elements zig and zag gesturally down to the foreground, which to me is also a gestural, dancer-like movement; the horizon line seems to me like arms outstretched in a lyrical expression; and the creek itself seems to me like a reclining human form with arms outstretched. This painting is professionally framed in a plain, natural-colored wood.
