Setting Sun, Rising Moon

9x12, oil/ canvas panel

Timber Lake, December

9x12,oil/canvas panel

Old man winter is making himself known!! Setting Sun, Rising Moon was painted on Tuesday Dec.13th, St. Lucia Day. The painting was begun at 4:15 pm and the sun was quickly setting, that along with the cold made it a challenge to respond immediately to the scene and get it down as quickly as possible. I was standing on the bank of the Hammock River looking over the marsh which was frozen off in the distance. At the moment the sun went behind the horizon many large shore birds, herons and egrets flew up making lonely, eerie calls before finding a place to roost for the night. A very special moment that made standing out in the cold and wind worth it.

Timber Lake was painted on Sunday Dec. 11th which was a beautiful day in the low 40's. The afternoon sun, with its low angle created beautiful light which was caught by the boney bare tree tops and the mirror of ice on the lake.

And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen :Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--The ice was all between.
The ice was here, the ice was there,The ice was all around :It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,Like noises in a swound !

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter long, long ago.

Christina Rosetti