We have a backyard pond. The novelty has never worn off. Each season it is different - offering us many new things to enjoy, much like a natural lake. Only much, much smaller. In the spring we have froggie visitors that delight us. And last night - a frog spooked me when it jumped in front of my path into the pond.
In the summer months, the lily pads and water lilies captivate us. They are really parking spaces for dragon flies and darners and the likes.
We make a point to visit each day and look for the changes. What is ready to bloom, what has grown seeming overnight, you get the idea. The daily feeding the kio and gold fish are a huge part of this routine as well. (We really do not necessarily like to talk about the daily cleaning of the filter basket and other pond maintenance activities that presented this year.)
We sit on our deck in the evenings and wish the pond was really the ocean with waves or a huge lake. We imagine the sounds of waves lapping at the shores. And on more than one occasion during the times of high temps and humidity wished it was large enough to swim in.
So, it is not a stretch that I must paint it (er… again). The lily pads and water lilies are from our pond. The leopard frogs are actually residents at the pond at Hooper’s Studio in Hampton, NB. Their pond is also small and is providing haven to over 40 leopard frogs (at last count). Beside their pond is a rather large net. When I inquired what the net was for I was told to catch the bullfrogs. My puzzled look brought about this explaination “they eat the leopard frogs so Kathy catches them and relocates them to another area of the yard”. I love this story.
Anyway, after photographing the frogs I knew I need to incorporate a few of them into this painting. Along with the odd lacewing and dragon fly. Enjoy looking for them. Peek-a-boo!
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