This oil painting is of a stream and forest here in our neighborhood in Ashburn, Virginia! Painted on a 16″ x 20″ organic cotton canvas.
Spring Oil Paintings
Tag: forest
Forest Friends Mural Painting
This is a mural I actually completed a couple of months ago in my sons room, but haven’t gotten around to posting a completed picture of it yet!
It’s a “forest friends” themed mural, with evergreen trees, mountains, a stream with fish, and several different animals – deer, fox, squirrel, doves, owl, cardinal, a sparrow bird, butterflies, and a boy flying a kite.
Like my Dad did to me, you might ask “Won’t a kite get stuck in the trees?” Well, maybe in real life! But this is a childhood world of imagination, fun and freedom, where kites don’t get stuck in trees. Or if they do, you just climb up the tree and untangle it!
This mural has been challenging to photograph in a way that reflects its true colors and shading, what with the way light comes into the room, but I’ve tried to Photoshop this the best I could:
Refreshing walks and hikes
Getting some fresh air
Do you ever feel like just getting out of the office or your house for some fresh air? I know you do! We all do. There’s nothing like walking through nature to clear your mind. This weekend I took a walk with my wife, which has started to become an annual thing, through a regional park to see the fall colors and the Potomac river. I could stare out at the bright colored leaves next to the Potomac for a whole day.
Taking “nature walk” to the extreme
Thinking about these nature walks got me to thinking about the biggest nature walk I ever did – a 3 day hike through Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. I’ve heard several times that Corcovado has the most concentrated biodiversity in one spot in the entire western hemisphere. National Geographic even called the Osa Peninsula, where Corcovado is located, the “most biologically intense place on Earth.”
We walked for three days in the muggy heat through the jungle, crossing several rivers along the way. We heard all kinds of birds and howler monkeys off in the distance, saw wild bores and a spotting of the rare danta (tapir in English – like a mini elephant), and several pizotes (not sure of the English translation, but I know I’ve never seen them in the U.S.). The most beautiful part for me was walking along the ocean and seeing dozens upon dozens of wild, bright red scarlet macaws flying along the coast. I think I was so enchanted that I didn’t even get a photo of it! I did get a few of them in the trees. Here are some photos!
(this hike was in 2008 near the end of my Peace Corps service in Costa Rica)