Smoke on the Water

The title is borrowed from lyrics I heard while riding the school bus in the 1970's  "Smoke on the water, fire in the sky" , by the band Deep Purple. 

My watercolor was painted during California's fire season, and the smoke and ash became so heavy that it created a film on the surface of the water. When my painting companion and I arrive to paint in the morning, the sky was hazy and over the course of a few hours the sky filled with smoke causing the sunlight to have a diffuse orange glow by early afternoon. As a result, this affected the colors of my painting.

This was painted during what turned out to be the 2nd day of the historic Camp Fire in November, 2018. This fire burned for a total of 17 days; burning over 153,300 acres; destroyed almost 19,000 buildings; killed 85 people.  

This was painted at Black Miners' Bar, formerly known as Negro Bar State Park, along the American River by Folsom, California.  

Solo-show Piedmont Center for the Arts 2024