Tunnel view, morning view

Tunnel View

8x10 acrylic on canvas

Spy Pond Series #23

I took a picture of this scene last fall and had intended to paint it, but just got to it yesterday.  It's of a view of Spy Pond that comes up as a surprise if you head down Pond St.  The Minuteman bike path is above the tunnel.  It's such a sweet scene that I love to drive there if I'm on my way to the parking lot near the playground with my grandchildren.  Max shouts, "Tunnel, tunnel!" And we all repeat it and then he laughs.  Simple pleasures of a 2 year old, his sister and I.

Morning view

photograph

Yes there's lots of activity on the Pond in the morning.  I was out to capture a scene and couldn't resist this one of the ducks and deep green reflections.  It was hard to leave to go home--mild weather, a slight breeze. No one seemed in a hurry, even the folks on their bikes going to work.  

More cloud reflections

Clouds and Sky

8x8 oil on canvas

Spy Pond Series #22

So you can say I'm a little obsessed with painting cloud reflections!  My eye can't stay away from them when I'm at Spy Pond.  They're a captivating mix of beautiful reality and interesting distortions from the wave action.  Also they're upside-down from the way they are in the sky and appear to be their own entities.  Makes me wonder what makes these cumulous clouds appear gray on their underside. According to Darryn Schneider at http://optics.kulgun.net, "Clouds can also look dark or gray. This can be caused a number of different ways. But it is also due to perception by our eyes. A light gray cloud on a bright white background will look much darker than the same cloud on a dark or black background, in which case it might look white and bright. A cloud can look dark or gray because it is partially transparent and the blue sky behind it can be seen through the cloud. This will happen in light wispy clouds with little water content, and more often in ice crystal clouds. Ice crystal clouds can spread out more as the ice crystals last longer once they move out of saturated air (air with 100% relative humidity) due to it taking longer for ice crystals to sublimate (change directly from ice to water vapor), than water drops to evaporate."  And I thought it was a shadow!

Somehow we're intrigued by clouds and probably most of us have spent time cloud watching.  Their whiteness does appear to intensify the blue of the sky-a wonderful illusion as far as I'm concerned.  

Spy Pond is full of boaters at this time of year so I need to shift from sky to water.  After all, it's all about the Pond.