Sparks Lake - Acrylic Painting

In 2015, I embarked on the most incredible journey - a nearly full year of cross-country travel while living in a converted cargo van and teaching mosaic workshops all over the United States. 

Looking back at all the places I got to visit, its not possible to choose a favorite. The more I traveled, the more I realized how beautiful every corner of the US is. But Sparks Lake in Deschuetes National Forest in Oregon is one of those places where its possible to forget that the rest of the world exists. 

Sunset at Sparks Lake, acrylic painting on board, 18"x18", 2021 ~SOLD

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I enjoy looking back at the photos from past trips because so often I feel like in an instance, I am right back in a beautiful memory. I'm sitting on a large rock with my partner Kyle and the sun is going down. We are both shivering a bit because evening temperatures dropped quickly. Still we are savoring the last light and the evening stillness and its quiet beauty. I take a few photos here and there but nothing truly captures the moment. Still, the photos are now small tokens of a special time and are part of what has inspired me to begin painting again. 

The above photo is just a very small nook in the greater panoramic landscape that engulfed us. To the left, there was a beautiful sunset over the mountains. It was so mesmerizing that it was understandable just to stare straight ahead, until it would all become vailed in darkness. But I turned my head slightly and was pulled toward a little beach right in front of me. It was so lovely. 

In my painting I aimed to show that beauty that is present all around us. I loved the reflection of the smaller rocks and the trees in the nearby beach right next to the million dollar mountain view. I thought that it could be just as captivating if examined closely and fully appreciated for it own unique beauty. After all, it is those same rocks and trees that make up the near by mountains. This is just a micro view of sorts. The painting is a glimpse into how I saw my world that evening. 

In those quiet moments during a sunset or a sunrise, I love observing everything around me, how the light changes on all the surrounding environmental features, including people. The morning of the sunset that inspired this painting, the sunrise was equally captivating at this spot. I kept turning 360 degrees because it was such a stunning display of what mother nature prepared for us. And on one of those turns, I fell in love with how my partner Kyle's silhouette looked against the foggy reflected landscape. Every moment at Sparks Lake was pure magic for us and that is what I tried to capture in my painting.

Sunset at Sparks Lake is no longer available but every-once-in-a-while I do add new paintings to my Online Art Shop https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/