Peaceful Waters
Spring Reflections at Lost Maples
The Hills Are Alive
Sabinal Spa
Plein Air Painting
Ready, Set, Paint!
Firefox Cabin on the Sabinal
Medina River Stopover on the Way to Vanderpool ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Am Haunted by Waters
by Cindy Morawski
Everyday that it doesn't rain, I feel a little blue. This Texas drought is bringing the waters down, and it's bringing me down too. The cracks in the ground in my neighborhood greenbelt are getting big enough to swallow a squirrel on the run. The soil is as dry as powder and looks like accumulated dust on the trail. I get thirsty just looking at those big Live Oak trees. How far down do their roots need to go to get some water, anyway?
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Our watering day is every Tuesday in San Antonio because our house number ends in a "3." We're now on Restricted Watering set by the San Antonio Water System or SAWS. We can't use our irrigation system but once a week, but we can hand water. I'm already feeling sorry for the local wildlife. I try to keep my birdbath filled so the birds and critters can get a drink. I saw a squirrel jump from our fence right onto the birdbath and then take a five-minute swill.
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Water is obviously an important focus to most of the living things on this planet. Some states in America are getting too much lately, and some like Texas are getting too little. I couldn't help but notice "the waters" when I recently spent a week at Lost Maples. I stopped at the Medina River for a photo and driving break on the way to Vanderpool and the Firefox Cabins where I planned to stay while I did some plein air painting with some artist friends. After arriving at my destination near Lost Maples State Park, I checked out the Sabinal River. Even though the water level was down, it still retained its natural beauty and its voice sang as it traveled across the rocks and through the land.
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Writer Norman Maclean once said, "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters." I too am haunted by waters. I like to paint rivers, creeks, ponds, and the sea. Landscapes with water seem to energize me. Their spirit is one of beauty and healing. I am grateful for water.
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Besides admiring the rivers that flowed in the Texas Hill Country, I managed to do some landscape painting as well. I started with some plein air sketches and then moved onto field studies. After that, I worked on larger paintings. The above paintings were completed while in the field. With my painting entitled The Hills Are Alive, I tried to capture the movement and rhythm of the Hill Country. It's an impressionism style that goes for simplicity in shapes. The painting called Peaceful Waters, celebrates rivers in more of a representational manner. I incorporated the stillness of the water, the rough texture of the rocky cliffs, and the shadows of the day in order to tell time. With the reflection of the East Trail Pond in Lost Maples, I tried to show the freshness of spring with the colors of lime green and pink. The newness of sprouting leaves and grass along the horizon also tells of the season's announcement of Spring.
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Getting away from it all has its advantages. I came back not only inspired by my closeness to nature, but I also enjoyed learning new things from being surrounded by other artists. It was all good! And as John Muir once expressed, "Everybody needs beauty as much as bread, places to play in, and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike."
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I hope our drought will end soon. Look for me doing an outdoor Irish jig in the backyard to celebrate the first rain of the season. Think RAIN!!!
~~Cindy
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MORAWSKI FINE ART EVENTS
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Celebrate Texas, a Texas Pastel Society's regional juried art exhibition at San Antonio's Central Library through May
Art in Bloom, the New Braunfels Art League's spring show featuring all things flowers through May
Missions and More at the River Art Gallery at LaVillita on the San Antonio Riverwalk this month
New Gallery and New Paintings~~now open at the SAVA Gallery at the SA River Center Mall
Three works at the Foundry Coffeehouse on McCullough this month and next
*Hope you'll check out one or more of my art shows this month!
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