A scene tucked away along my favorite trail, I’ve visualized this spring painting for probably all the 20 years I’ve been walking this trail. Carefully tiptoeing through the brush at the edge of the opposite bank I leaned out, holding on to a sapling for balance, to see the suddenly brilliant mosses contrasting with the fading reddish leaf cover, the limestone cliff in all its details reflected in the water burbling around the bend below, deeper than usual for the spring thaws, trees clinging to the edge, the mist in the woods beyond.

Photographs were difficult because of the brush growing along the bank I stood on, and I did my best to capture it each year from slightly different angles but knew a painting would be the only way to share this moment of awakening when, soon, all the trees would fill with shadows, the stream ripple and roar over the rocks and bird song fill the woods, all beginning at this moment.

The back story

This painting is brand new and is actually my March featured artwork and desktop calendar…except that I didn’t get it done in time. I’d been planning to paint this for months and decided it would be this spring, but February and March became consumed with finding a way to purchase a car and finding a car to purchase, as well as business activities. March flew by, and for the first time in four years I did not share Nature & Wildlife featured artwork and provide a monthly desktop calendar. I started on what I’d planned for my April featured artwork, but decided to paint this anyway for an exhibit of art inspired by nature with a local art league, and here we are.

And by “brand new” I mean really brand new. I had planned to take all last week to paint it, but found the car to purchase week before last and went through the purchase last week along with other work, and came down to Wednesday night and a decision. I decided I’d do my best. I actually painted it entirely last Thursday. I try not to do that because I want to enjoy painting and want the perspective of time as I work. But sometimes the painting has been waiting so long, the idea is strong in my mind, and I have the materials on hand. And the painting is due to the gallery on Friday. Framed.

And my “April” art is coming along just fine, so I’ll be able to share it in May.

Land, or water?

I debated classifying this as a landscape or a waterscape. There seems to be more land in this one so it’s a landscape, but I may also feature it with water because the water was instrumental in creating the scene. Why not?

You can also find this painting in my gallery of Landscape Artwork.

 

Get a print of this artwork

Register for an account and get a free matted print

The featured artwork also becomes one of the New Member Gifts for the month it’s featured as well, so if you’ve been waiting to register for an account, here’s another good reason. This New Member print is a signed digital print of my pastel painting “Emerging Spring”. Prints are made in archival inks on acid-free Epson art paper. This print is 8″ x 12″ and matted in natural white mat board to fit a 12″ x 16″ frame.

Click here to register for your account to order your free print. When I receive your registration I’ll send you an email with information on how to order.

OR PURCHASE A PRINT

“Emerging Spring” is available in various prints and canvases. Please visit the product post here.

---

This month’s desktop calendar

Wallpaper calendars are free to download. You’ll find them below along with instructions.

If these sizes don’t work for your device, or if you have problems, please let me know. Often I can troubleshoot the reason an image won’t download or won’t load on your device, but if I just can’t figure it out I can just email it to you and hope that works.

How to download and use your desktop calendar

1. Click on one of the images below that matches the dimensions of your monitor to open the image in a new page.
2. For desktop computers and laptops, right-click on that image and on a desktop computer choose “save as desktop wallpaper” or “save as background” or whichever option your operating system gives you to be able to do this. You may also simply save it to your hard drive and set it as your background from there.
3. For mobile devices, press on the image to bring up a menu and choose “open in new window”. Go to that window and press until a menu appears and choose as “set as wallpaper” or “set as lock screen” or whatever you’d like—this is slightly different on all devices.

. . .

Horizontal and HD monitors and screens

. . .

Square monitors and screens

. . .

Small Mobile Devices and Tablets

. . .

Cell Phones and Smartphones

---

Take a look at other featured artwork and desktop calendar posts.

Each month I feature a piece of artwork or a photo from the archives to the present day, tell its story, and set it up as a free downloadable desktop calendar for just about every electronic device available.

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

Don’t miss any new items or opportunities!

“Follow” the Portraits of Animals blog with the link in the upper left. Sign up to receive posts in email, or in your favorite reader using the links in the right-hand column.

Sign up for e-newsletters

You can also sign up for my monthly e-newsletters to receive special discounts and find out where I’ll be with my artwork.

Click here for the Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter, for feline and animal-specific products and information.

Click here for the Art & Merchandise E-newsletter, for landscapes, nature, urban scenes and more.

For art, photos and writing as I develop it, visit my blogs.

See feline art and photos as they happen on The Creative Cat, along with feline news, health, welfare, rescue stories and more.

See daily photos as I post them on Today.

Read poetry, short stories, essays and more on Paths I Have Walked.

. . . . . . .

© 2022 | www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.