Swale Print

Swale is part of the "Heating with wood" series. I finished this painting during a period when I was building a swale in my north yard with a bulldozer, a risky proposition because I was inexperienced with bulldozers and because it was borderline legal with my local planning board. At the same time, it was deeply gratifying for me, because it meant I would control flooding in the yard for the first time in decades, and plant grass, turning a mud hole into a beautiful green outdoor space -- and do it in springtime rather than waiting a year for the Village planning board to make up its mind. The combination of risk, beauty and time sensitivity came to mind as I finished this watercolor. It reflects my sense of the watercolor, which begins with somewhat formulaic yellow and red lines, establishing the environment, and finishes with searching and discretionary blue line in that environment.