Though I’ve already walked the early spring woods barefoot, cold and overcast, rainy and even snowy weather persists. But damp and overcast are the days when the spring woods look like this, the heightened intensity of color, dense shadows and mist among the trees.

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 each spring for years 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.

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?

The original is sold, but prints are available

Emerging Spring was the featured artwork for my 2021 Seasons on the Panhandle Trail exhibit. I had the feeling I would sell this original painting around Rock the Quarry this year, but I never take it for granted. There are a few people who have purchased different genres of my original art over the years, and Emerging Spring fits into several categories: water, seasons, western Pennsylvania woods. The person who’s collected most of my seascapes and who also grew up in Western PA decided to purchase it before Rock the Quarry and now the original will go home.

Purchase a print of “Emerging Spring”

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

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© 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.