Cooling breezes of the still Sabine

I went out to Cedar Creek to a house concert, where local Americana singer-songwriter Jenny Reynolds sang songs from her cd Bet on the wind.  The lyrics and memories of past winters, along with Austin’s weather at the time made me remember.  We had experienced spring-like weather, followed by storms with heavy rain, sending temperatures plunging for days on end.  I began to wonder if the sun would ever shine again.  All the greyness of what seemed like time without end harkened me back to Jefferson County, growing up on the coast, adjacent to the Neches River, Sabine Lake, and the Louisiana border.  Grey days and thunderstorms were the order of our winters.  There were very few days of sunshine between late November and the Ides of March.  In the middle of all that winter weather lay the still Sabine.  This lake is held captive by the Cameron peninsula of Louisiana and the marshy shores of the upper Texas Gulf Coast.  These land formations hold it apart from the Gulf of Mexico.  Short of hurricane winds, the lake manages a remarkable stillness.  It was a great place to fish and sail, or merely watch for coastal birds from its shores.

All that peaceful stillness in the turmoil of a winter storm’s fury came to mind.  As I thought about it, I decided to make an effort to capture the energy of a storm rolling in from the Gulf, with all the turbulent clouds, pouring rain, and fleeing birds.  Using 300 pound Arches watercolor paper and a limited palette, I began.  In building this painting, I worked to capture the light of the grey overcast sky and the seemingly still water of the Sabine.  Beautiful cloud formations are abundant over this lake.  Generally speaking, painting clouds is a ‘less is more’ proposition, creating nuanced shapes.  I employed a wet-on-wet to fuse the edges of these subtle vapor forms by dropping in color and rubbing out the edges.

After allowing the painting to dry over several weeks, looking at it intently with an editorial eye, I chose to add birds and additional color to the storm clouds on the left side of the picture plane, along with a strong rain pattern below the clouds.  The storm was my focal point.  The additions created greater detail and interest within the painting.  Again, after applying an editorial eye, I added additional purple to the storm clouds, widened the rain pattern to extend deeper and therefore more fully within the picture plane.  I drew in the Texas jetty’s rock forms with a size 6 brush.  The jetty helps prevent flooding of the Texas Coastal Marsh and provides a place for land-bound fishermen to cast their lines into the Sabine’s deep and rich waters.

Final touches of green marsh grass and a bit of additional color drama to the clouds finished my painting.

The sea breeze that our little town enjoyed was cooled by the waters of the still Sabine.  I’ve included two songs here that feature the essence of Sabine Lake and its influence on the patterns of daily life and the culture of the area:  ‘Jefferson County girl’ by singer-songwriter Larry Looney, and ‘Bet on the wind’ by singer-songwriter Jenny Reynolds.  (You can click on the song titles to hear the songs)

When you look at this painting, I hope you can feel the still Sabine’s cooling breezes.