View from a kayak – This will probably be my next painting. I am working on getting back to the simplicity and beauty of water and how light reacts on its surface and even more important through its depths. It’s been a long time since we have kayaked and today we broke a streak.

Unfortunately, didn’t break the streak of being skunked. Smallmouth bass are sitting on the bottom laughing at the hapless fishermen as we speak. But this post is not about fishing or painting-it’s about being out there.

It was truly an amazing day. The sky was brilliant blue, the redbuds and bradford pear competing to be noticed. We didn’t even rush to get the kayaks out, there was plenty of time to just enjoy being there.

We threw crank baits and tubes, slabs and even some topwater and the fish wouldn’t budge. In fact we didn’t mark many fish on the fish finder. We paddled, we paddled and paddled some more and even though the 54° water filled the back of my boat and we fought the wind for several hours nothing mattered than the feeling of being emerged in the beautiful scenery.

I remembered what I didn’t like about kayaking, the stiff legs, awkward tangling of lines but more than this I realized what I missed. First, my son and nephew enjoying themselves, my brother and I throwing jokes and thoughts back and forth.

I remembered what I have been missing in painting the brilliance of water, the smells and the colors of spring stirred memories. In some areas the rocks and pristine blue-green water looked like how I envision Greece and its rocky white cliffs against the Aegean.

The exploration of another two miles of the lake makes me realize just how many more open areas and hidden bits of paradise that are just waiting to be discovered. By car or by kayak I am excited about starting the journey to bring words and pix from all the faraway places, even those that aren’t so far away.