Juanita Bellavance, Caught up in grasses. From the Chestatee River portfolio, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches.

That first day of visiting the Chestatee River, I discovered there was no clear path along the river. It was a raw path that appeared and disappeared. I was climbing over tree roots and grasses for an hour and a half. It was glorious!

I went to the river at different times of day for each visit. With almost every different time of day, the water changes color. On January 14 from 3:00 - 4:00 PM, I took almost eight hundred photos. I love how the shades of color vary within the water in this painting and merge just a bit with the color of the sand on the riverbank.

It gives me peace similar to the experience of the river that day. I can almost hear the water flowing by when I look at this.