Stream Paintings Coming Together

"Spruce Creek- Plein Air", Pastel

The series of paintings of area streams which I've been creating over the past year are coming together! As I finish framing them in preparation for the joint exhibit, and they hang next to each other on the walls of my studio gallery, they speak to me of the forces of nature and harmony in the places where I traveled to paint on location. In this series of paintings, I wanted to create a body of work giving an overview of the watershed (mostly tributaries to the West Branch Susquehanna), over four seasons. Together with fellow artist, friend, and flyfisher Jeanne McKinney, I painted at over twenty sites during the past year, from mountain brooks, to valley streams, and on to the Susquehanna itself.

As I frame the paintings one by one, the fifteen finished works which will soon be in the show gather on the walls of my studio gallery, enriching me with the 'voices' of these places, and resonance as a group. I am glad to have been to these places, and feel gratified in my part in capturing some of their spirit in oil and pastel. There is some of my voice too- a relatedness between the works in marks and touch- and I feel very satisfied in doing my work.

I'd love to share them with you if you are able to see the show (see www,alicekelsey.com for details of where & when.)