Uwharrie River Plein Air

This plein air painting depicts one of my favorite childhood swimming holes. It's located behind my parents' house on the Uwharrie River near Farmer, NC. Many memories have been made here around these big rocks, from snakes, mud fights, and tree swings, to slipping in the mud and busting your rear...like I did yesterday. Don't worry, I didn't hurt the mud.

The painting measures 9x12 and was painted on location while standing right in the slick Randolph County mud. The mirky water was an unusual subject but, more often than not, this is how the Uwharrie River looks.

The muddy water presented a challenge for me. My usual water-scapes are always the clean and clear creeks or rivers that reflect so perfectly their surroundings. This scene, however, was very different. This was a good exercise to learn to paint what you actually see and not so much of what you know. This is another painting of which I used no black. All the darks were combinations of ultramarine blue, burnt umber, and violet.

I also left out a couple of things we saw that day...two little snakes.