2020 Christmas card:  The following watercolor of a Frost Valley winter on Biscuit Brook was undertaken for our 2020 Christmas card.  Happy Holidays!

Biscuit Brook winter:

  

Mohonk Preserve:  The Testimonial Gateway was built to commemorate the 50^th wedding anniversary of Albert and Eliza Smiley; dedicated in 1908 it served as the eastern entrance to the Mohonk Mountain House, from New Paltz until 1945.  Now it serves as a trailhead entrance to a tree-lined Pin Oak Allee and the Mohonk Preserve.  If an onlooker gazes carefully, once through the stone structure arch, on a clear day in view are Lenape Lane, the Shawangunks, and Sky Top.  Below is an autumn watercolor of this historic gateway.

The Gatehouse:

 Adirondacks:  Whiteface Mountain, in New York’s Adirondacks, is the fifth highest peak in the state at an elevation of 4865 feet.  Recently my husband Ed and I spent several days in Wilmington with family.  On one gorgeous fall morning Ed, our son, and granddaughter set off on the Flume Trail to fish the West Branch of the Ausable River.  Being the only non-angler of the group, I traipsed along with paint bag and chair in tow, finding a beautiful pond with a mirror reflection and Whiteface backdrop.  There I setup and enjoyed peaceful hours trying to capture the warmth of this October day.  Upon leaving I took a few photos and finished the watercolor at the kitchen table that afternoon.  This watercolor appeared in the November 2020 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

October Whiteface:

Watercolors and Catskill rivers:

There’s a place known as Shangri-La to some, found close to the very center of the Charmed Circle.  Wild brook trout still abound and the forest setting probably hasn't changed much during the last century.

East Branch Neversink, Frost Valley:

This Catskill river also drains the region’s tallest peak--- Slide Mountain--- winding its way down to New York City’s Ashokan Reservoir.  There at the mouth of the thirsty reservoir stands a section of river, so bold and challenging to wade, some call it “no place for old men.”

No place for old men, Esopus Creek:

Heaven’s light:  Heaven’s light can come to us in so many different ways, if only we seek it out.  Often a human eye might detect it through a vaporous hole in the clouds above.

Heaven’s light:

Shadows of Slide:  Within the shadows of the Catskills' tallest mountain are a few distinctive places where environs are special, scenery still unparalleled, and history flourishes.  Below are two watercolors of settings near the shadows of Slide Mountain.

Winnisook Lake is located at the source of the Esopus Creek, and home to a private club founded in 1886.  It was named after Chief Winnisook, a local Catskill folklore Native American.

Winnisook (sold):

The New York State Forest Preserve abounds the base of Slide, but as noted above various clubs, estates, and organizations also own large parcels of land.  However, there is one small unique sliver of state land that borders the upper reaches of the Neversink, hikers often utilize as home base, and wild brook trout still can be found.

State Land, East Branch Neversink:

39-5 parents' memorial:  When our parents passed away years ago, we established a small garden area in our front lawn, with a few flowering trees and bushes.  Eventually I built a stone bench that sits under a flowering dogwood.

For sometime we talked about Lois painting the image of a cane fly rod on that bench.  The rod chosen was not any rod, but an Art Weiler 39-5 Leonard model.  I first flexed this bamboo more than a decade ago at The Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, NJ, but resisted the temptation to purchase it then.  However, when my father died I acted as the executor of his will and my sister arranged for us to utilize a Pennsylvania attorney she knew, who resided along the Delaware River.

Well, the trip to the attorney’s office to sign/notarize paperwork took us almost past Art Weiler’s place.  Thus I called Art inquiring if he still had a 39-5 Leonard model, and he replied in the affirmative.  So I purchased the rod in my Dad's memory.  Memorial Day weekend 2020 Lois painted an image of that bamboo fly rod, and a Hardy reel, on the stone bench, in an area set aside in memory of our parents.