I am back at home and it is in the middle of a dreary February. The weather is still pretty fickle. Yesterday we had a reprieve from the cold damp weather and I really enjoyed working outside in the field at one of my favorite spots just up the road from where I live. Black Hills Park is a lovely community park with lots of sprawling woods, hills, scenic lake and streams.

This is a very quick study done of Little Seneca Lake which is located at Black Hills Park. The lake was created by the construction of a dam on Little Seneca Creek. It is actually a reservoir for emergency water supply for the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. It is a beautiful lake that our family has enjoyed since we moved here in Boyds over thirty years ago. I knew one of familys who owned a farm which was flooded to create the lake. Other historic sites that was sacrificed for the creation of the lake was a one-room schoolhouse and a log slave cabin and the home and farm of James Boyd, who the town of Boyds was named after. Kind of sad to lose these places of history but we all enjoy the beautiful lake and park.

I painted this little study in a very short time. I am satisfied with the results and will leave it alone. I have decided to start another larger painting based on this sketch but with changes to the composition. I want to optomize the right side of the painting to include more space and variety

This is the new enlarged version size 16×20. I am using a toned canvas to create an underpainting. Applying loose thin washes to a carefully studied drawing that is using large shapes that will connect to form a pleasing composition. The evergreen tree is used as a “unit of measurement” to measure against

Two other older paintings done at this beautiful park.

Here are a few older paintings done at Black Hill Lake.