"The Missouri River"

"The Missouri River"

12x16 pastel on paper

2012

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The Missouri River, nicknamed the "Big Muddy" for its enormous loads of sediment or silt---some of the largest of any North American river. One can find these deposits of rock and sand all along the Missouri, I have portrayed a few of them in this painting. The river is wide and powerful, and can take some time to get used to if one ever journeys out by boat for a fishing trip...I know because I've been there. Where else is everyone in the boat going to lose their fishing lines due to a large tree sailing down stream? Not in a lake. This river will be another focal point in my paintings, possibly the French Bottoms area near St. Joseph, MO.