Sometines subjects for paintings just happen along the

way.  No extended painting trip, just something that you

see that stick in your mind.  Trout fishing - which I have

never done - is one of these subjects.  It is almost always

somewhere off the beaten track.  A gentle flow of water

and a single dedicated fisherman.  The painting of rapids

was just downstream from the fisherman.  Water was

running over tumbled rocks in the form of gentle rapids.

The top painting is of a mesquite tree with milkweed blooming at it’s base. 

These trees are an invasive species, but I find them beautiful, lacy, with entwining limbs and often serve as a shelter for other plants at their bases.