leaf strewn pond in the fall
Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 in. (2000)

The fall is that time when leaves let go of branches, and drift down to a next stage as forest creature food, insulation from the winter, or add to the manufacture of organic muck on pond bottoms. It's one of those "depends where you live" kind of fates, not to mention "where the wind blows", and "if I'm dry, I can float downstream a ways." Once securely on the ground or river bottom, they settle into obscurity among the riot of their beautifully coloured mates.

The major artistic challenge is to suggest the prescence of something that you cannot actually see. In other words, something — like water — that is transparent. So, dinking about with reflections of sky, reflections of tree-choked overheads, things above and below water at the same time requires a certain sleight of hand. Hopefully the suggestion of water is successfully shown by the reflection and refraction of these other elements.