Evening on the Bitterrot
16 x 16"
oil on canvas

This painting was created recently amidst a swarm of mosquitoes near Stevensville, Montana. Newly arrived around 7 in the evening, this was my first opportunity to paint a landscape in a part of the country where I lived many years ago. Those giant skeeters posed quite a challenge, however. (Abundant insect life must be one of the reasons the Bitterroot River makes for great fishing.) Fortunately, I had a small amount of bug spray in my backpack and sufficient attraction to the oval shapes formed by the branches of these cottonwood trees to not hold back. It was almost 9:00 p.m. when I completed the piece . The sky was still a deep blue and the sunlight on the trees only just beginning to fade.The mosquitoes were just getting going.

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