Lake Vallecito Revisited

6 x 8 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This is another piece from Lake Vallecito outside of Durango, Co. The treeless gray areas on Engineer Mountain across the lake, and the treeless grassy area at my feet are the result of one of the wild fires we had here in Colorado about 7 years ago. I know through the media we all hear about the natural disasters everywhere in the world, but if we don't visit the location, we don't really understand the magnitude of the situation. Because this spot is a park and campground, the burnt, scarred trunks right by the lake, have been cut down. I left out the charred tree stumps around my feet; didn't make for very good composition.

This is what it really looks like right behind me (that's my shadow.) It's mile after mile of new grass growing, trunks left standing, and trees that didn't get burned; probably the wind caused the fire to move. I think fires are especially tragic here in the west; it's so dry that it takes years to revegetate.