Sandra Pearce Artist Blog

I  LOVE Indian Summer time of year - we don't often get them where I live. Cool crisp mornings, sunny warm afternoons. Leaves turning glorious colors from bright yellow to glowing red to royal purple. Fresh air and the smell of wood smoke from wood stoves and agricultural burn piles. Haunting crow calls from the trees by day, and hypnotic cricket chorus from the long grasses by night. 

Here was a lovely warm clear fall day at Fern Hill Wetlands in Forest Grove, Oregon. Several artists were painting the wide open ponds and the crashing waterfall. I ducked and dodged through the native plantings to find this little still-water pond in shade, below the large falls, and just at the far edge the water bubbled over rocks and dropped to the next level. The small rushing sound was soothing, with visits from myriad insects, ducks, and plopping frogs. The backdrop of colorful leaves, trees reaching over the water and dark shade on the shores made for great visuals and reflections on the glass-like water surface.

It was a good day to paint.

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