Friday, August 12, 2011

Wildwood Lake by Julie Riker

Last Friday I painted with Mary Beth Brath and Patricia Griffin.  Patricia travelled to Harrisburg so that we could spend the day painting together and we had a great day.  We painted at Wildwood Lake which is a nature preserve and marsh area on the edge of the city.   I  painted there a few days earlier and loved seeing all the lotus blossoms and loosestrife  blooming.

8x8 oil

 8x10 oil

Yesterday I went to paint at Wildwood again with some members of the Susquehanna Valley Plein Air Painters and was shocked to see that the weekend's heavy rain had knocked off all the flowers and the rising water level had left brown mud over everything.   All the color was gone.  It reminds me how fleeting natural beauty can be.  I am really glad that I took the time to capture it when I did.

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10 comments:

Patricia A. Griffin said...

Dreamy!!!

blah said...

Very nice!

Julie Riker said...

thanks Michael! And thanks Patricia for spending the day with me. It was great fun hanging out with you!

CECELIA LYDEN said...

ALL LOVELY--HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE FROM THE SAME SITE WE WENT TO ON THURSDAY.

Claire Beadon Carnell said...

Looks like you three had a wonderful day to paint, Julie. These are wonderful!

Tatiana said...

Julie, you are so lucky girl! Get the place in a fool bloom.... I love both paintings, but I think 8x10" one is my personal favorite. I didn't get to do much in Wildwood this season, to bad... but it will be another summer.

Thom Glace said...

Great picture of you in the paper Friday- By the way-
YOU OWN THE SUSQUEHANNA!

Mary Beth Brath said...

Wow - love the paintings Julie. The foreground on the second image is so yummy. What paper were you in on Friday?

Julie Riker said...

Thanks everyone! And I think Tom is referring to the write up in the Patriot about the paint out/meet up between SVPAP and the Chesapeake Bay campers. It was a great photo of Ralph Hocker talking to a young student and I was painting in the background. Only people who know me or have seen me painting would recognize it as me. Good little article on the meet up though...

Julie Riker said...

...and Mary Beth, I also like that foreground area and was hoping to do a larger painting of just that last week - will have to wait for next time.