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Plein air painting is always an adventure! You never know who or what you are going to meet while your painting. The day I painted 'A Walk in the Woods' was no different.

The day started out with an excessive heat warning. You may ask why I went out painting during an excessive heat warning? Well several reasons. First, I'm from southern Arkansas and I probably played outside in similar weather growing up. Second, I'm used to heat and humidity, to a degree, and know what to expect. I also understand that the most dangerous part of the day is actually between 10AM to 3PM and in the sun. Knowing this, I knew that painting in the morning in the woods would be relatively safe. Also, since I don't do well in the cold, I would rather paint in an excessive heat warning than in the freezing cold.

It took longer than I had expected to find something to paint. When I went out, I had an idea in mind about what I wanted to paint, but when I arrived at my designated location, it didn't look like I had expected or rather hoped it would look like. The last time I was at that location was early in the spring before the spring greening had begun and much of the view was a dull brown. This morning, it was all green, with little variation. I decided to look at the woods and trail itself as inspiration.

I hiked down a couple of trails before choosing the eventual trail. I had just begun down the trail when I heard an unusual sound. I heard a  a vibrating sound. I instinctively stopped and took one step back and looked around to find the location of the sound. To my right about 1.5 yards away, I saw a dull black-brown snake sliding away into the woods. In the time it took to set my equipment down and pull my phone out of my pocket, the snake was gone. I always appreciate a polite snake who warns you away then leaves himself.

I finally found the location that you see above along the trail. I arrived at the perfect time to see this beautiful lighting effect. The light was coming through the canopy and dancing along select trunks and leaves as well as a few places on the ground. It looked magical and enchanting at that exact moment. That is what I tried to capture on the canvas panel. I started with a thin initial wash of color. I finished the painting in the studio using my memory and a photograph taken from the scene as reference. The final touches of light were added exclusively from memory as the camera failed to capture these subtleties which the human eye easily sees.