It’s mid December and the river hasn’t frozen yet let alone little to no snow.  It was still cold, but still unseasonable for Dec.

This is Matthews Creek, right outside my place…

Dupont State Forest, Brevard NC

Blue Ridge Parkway looking east

And the parkway looking west

I forgot what this mountain is called but you can see it clearly from the parkway lookout.

The Black River flows into Lake Simcoe and this was the first real nice day up in Ontario.  I sat down with the I Pad and tried to get more comfortable using Sketchbook Pro.  The colors are not the greatest but I still have to figure out how to build my own pallette…the stock colors are not true to what I see, but it’s a pain going back and forth with the color picker.  I wish it would be on display full time.  Oh well, I will eventually get used to the tools and perhaps get better with these paintings.

The River entirely froze before I could get a nice sketch with the water contrasting with the snow…now it’s just one big white flow.

The Black River leads out to lake Simcoe.  This view is from the Briar’s golf course bridge.  Normally I don’t do much landscapes of a golf course, but this was such a great fall day and the best view of the river.  The only other view would be from a canoe…that is still pending.  This landscape is rather clean in terms of natural debris and random elements found in more natural settings, so I decided to enhance the sterile and cultivated landscaping that goes with a meticulous kept golf course.  You rarely see a stray leaf on the course or surrounding lawns.

This river is a little spooky in it’s beauty.  The Chatooga borders Georgia, North Carolina and the very north west corner of South Carolina.  I like to visit it in the winter as there are little to no people and you have the water all to yourself.  At the same time, you feel isolated and very lonely.