Magic in the Mountains

For the past week we've been visiting friends in the Allegheny Mountains. Like many, I always thought that the Appalachian Mountains was the name, but the Appalachian chain encompasses mountains stretching from the Adirondacks far in the north through the Smokies in the south. The Alleghenies was at one time the name for about the southern third or so but now is said to be the southern and western area of this chain of ancient mountains (they're more than 450 million years old). Whatever, it's a beautiful area of folded earth and cool rivers. Our friends live along one of those, a tributary of the Jackson River in southwestern Virginia. 

"Across the River, August 2021," watercolor on paper

The river where we stayed is the Cowpasture River, an unspoiled, clear-running tributary of the Jackson River, which in turn flows into the James. The countryside is the Alleghenies, cloaked top to bottom in old-growth forest. People have lived and worked here for centuries, unlike my home in Iowa. Here, there is magic in the mountains.

I painted the watercolor above while sitting in a chair on the bank, shaded by an ancient sycamore. The river whispered past, clear and cool. Downstream a family was floating on inner tubes and laughing. I sketched the main composition very loosely, laid on several mixes of greens and yellow-greens, then sketched a portion of the details using a technical pen.