This is another quick little plein air painting I did near Patoka Lake Dam Saturday afternoon. I exaggerated the orange of the cattail plants along the water’s edge to add a little interest to the otherwise very green scene. The reflections in the water changed before I even got a quick blocking in of the main shapes-dang the challenges of painting plein air. I had originally wanted/observed uneven bands of sky, distant hill, dark green reflection, and light sky reflection. In this finished sketch, however, the distant hill and dark green reflections are too close in size.
I walked a bit into some tall weeds to see if I could get a better vantage point, and a bird flew out of the weeds in front of me, making me jump and stifle a small squeak. I was already on alert to snakes that might like the swampy area. In the end, I set up my easel in the cut grass next to the taller weeds so I could concentrate on the light and not the snakes.
A pleasant little bonus to the day, we saw a bald eagle flying low over the flooded waters of reservoir while searching for a place to set up to paint. It did a couple of loops and dipping low to the water.