Spring Evening—Quinault Meadow

I’m thrilled with this painting and what will come from it. This past April we hiked in a gorgeous meadow on the north shore of Lake Quinault. The trees were burgeoning with spring green foliage Illuminated with the evening light. For thirty years, I painted in the Missouri River Valley, and the lines of cottonwood trees were my constant companions and an enduring motif. I miss deciduous trees—living in the land of eternal green. These soaring alders reminded me of the silhouettes of cottonwood trees and although the Olympic mountains behind are much larger than the blue river hills I grew up with, the memory was triggered. Lately I have been feeling nostalgic for museums, Impressionist paintings viewed up close, Paris, college, river bottoms. All of that love and longing and delight went into this piece. This is the first painting I have done since losing Pine, it feels like a breaking, a healing and a new beginning.