A Walk Along a River

To walk along a river each morning, its bank edged with juniper and ponderosa, marsh grass and other unnamed water plants. It started as a simple daily walk, but turned into a kind of meditation, an internal readjustment during the first wave of Covid lockdowns. It was not exercise nor an assessment of righteousness but a creative journey. I wanted to find in the repetition a kind of peace with myself. Maybe even a forgiveness. Sounds a bit high minded, after all a walk is just a walk. Not for me. A walk in the woods is never just a walk. The way the light plays through the moving upper branches of a swaying tree, the river cutting around boulders midstream, wet beaver footprints left on a dry path, these simple nature moments inform my dedication to the art of the landscape. I can no easier forget to breath as to not see the artistic mystery of such scenes, not form in my mind the tonalities of a finished print. It is now embedded in what I am and so to walk in the woods is never just a walk, it’s always a journey of the creative mind.