Looking Upstream

Most of my paintings of Druid Hill Creek or environs are views downstream. Lately though I've paid more attention to the opposite view, southward. The land rises to the southeast, first with a steep bank and then a hillside, the top of which is at least 30 feet higher. The banks are wooded and often dark, and it's harder to see that direction from the studio windows. Nonetheless, the last couple of weeks I've taken an easel outside and worked on the upstream view.

Hoff, "Upstream, Early April, oil on panel, 9x12

The creek widens and shallows as it bends and heads more northward. There is a sandbar that is uncovered when the water is low, as it is now, and tall trees line the western bank. In the early and mid-mornings, tree shadows cross the stream perpendicularly and the water takeson a yellow to dark appearance. Mornings can seem less focused, somehow.