Spring on the River

"Spring on the River" 12 x 16 in.

A couple of weeks ago we had some incredible weather with temps in the 70's (back to 40's and 50's now).  When we had those temps, I got out one morning and headed towards the Snake River.  The Snake is a beautiful trout stream as it enters Idaho from Wyoming but by the time it exits Idaho and moves into Oregon it's a muddy mess.  I grew up along the muddy mess and have never thought of it as "pretty" so I don't paint it often however, at times and in the right light conditions, it can still have a flare of beauty.  

Hence this painting which was painted around 9:00 a.m. in the morning.  The sun glare added some nice atmospheric haze and the spring colors were still showing on the banks.  I painted it and made it look more beautiful then it probably was...not adding the dead rotting carp on the bank helped as well.