THE BEAVER POND 

Click on images to enlarge 

 

The “Beaver Pond” that appears in so many of my landscapes is along the West Medway Creek, not far from where I live in New York's Hudson Valley. Beavers return to this fertile hollow every few years to dam the spillway, and town highway crews follow shortly afterwards to clear the debris from the culvert. 

Peak Color Beaver Pond, oil 10" x 16"

PEAK COLOR, BEAVER POND 
Oil/linen/board 10 x 16

Beaver Pond January, oil, 8" x 12"
BEAVER POND, JANUARY
Oil/linen/board 8 x 12

 

This spot is along a busily traveled road less than a mile from my home, and I have driven by almost every day for 15 years. Initially I was drawn to sketch the towering skeleton of a White Pine at the back of the  pond, and the Osprey, Red-tailed Hawks, and Great Blue Herons  that occasionally perch in its limbs. But during the past few years I  have painted the entire scene nearly a dozen times—in every season.I have painted in rain, and in snow, and even as the sky spit a cocktail of frozen slush onto my palette. I’ve seen mink hunt along the creek while I worked, and watched herons snapping minnows from the water.

Early Snow Beaver Pond, oil, 12" x 16"

EARLY SNOW, BEAVER POND 
Oil/linen 12 x 16

West Medway Creek December, oil, 10½" x 16"
WEST MEDWAY CREEK, DECEMBER
Oil/ linen/board 10½ x 16

Gray Day Beaver Pond, oil, 12" x 16"

GRAY DAY, BEAVER POND 
Oil /linen/board 12 x 16

Beaver Pond Dusk, oil, 10" x 15"

BEAVER POND DUSK
Oil/linen 10 X 15

 

 

Beaver Pond Afternoon, oil, 8" x 12"

BEAVER POND AFTERNOON 
Oil/linen /board 8 x 12

I’ve been serenaded by Warbling Vireos and Willow Flycatchers and croaked at by Ravens soaring   overhead. In fact, the more intimately I know the place, the more  eager I am to return and paint there again, because there seems to be something new—something surprising to be discovered every time I visit the beaver pond. 
 

 

 

 

 
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