Blog

On this day of my residency I was up at 5:30 am. Other days I found that I got some sleep in the early morning hours after the mice had gone back to bed after their all night partying! This day broke sunny and clear and I decided to do another morning small study. The weather has been somewhat overcast until now but today there are strong contrasts to be had. In my quest to depict all areas of the Park I decided that today I would go to the East side of Baxter. 

I drove the Roaring Brook Road all the way to Roaring Brook, stopping to take photographs and scout painting locations. On the way to Roaring Brook Road I scouted Caverly Pond and found moose tracks. Across the road I scouted Rocky Pond and found bear droppings. Around the bend and now onto Roaring Brook Road I bushwacked to the shore of Helon Taylor Pond. It had rained the night before so all I managed to do was soak my jeans through with the wet bushes. Next I came to Rum Brook. I took some photos there and moved on. There are other lovely brooks along the Roaring Brook Road which I stopped to photo. I would have had to make prior arrangements to park at Roaring Brook ( a choice starting point to climb Katahdin) so I turned around and went back to the brook of my choice. Avalanche Brook.

Midstream Avalanche Brook

Avalanche Brook is a good sized full running beauty of a brook. It's clear water tumbles over the granite picking up the colors of the rocks, sky, sunlight and forest. Gold, burnt sienna, greens and blues. There is plenty of parking here and access to the brook is easy. Of course I didn't find the easy way until I again did some bushwacking! Moving water and especially moving water where you can see into it is a big challenge to paint. I had a perfect day painting there. The sound of the water, fed from brooks high on the Mountain, rushing over the rocks and the warm sun on my back.....aaah.

That evening I was invited to dinner at Charity and Dean's cabin. Grilled pork, potatoes & onions, cucumber and cookies. Yum. A real meal and real good folks that shared it with me. 

Life is good.