Heartline

Heartline

5" X 7"

Watercolor & Ink

Our town has a river running through it. And, although we are not “townies”, living well outside its boundaries, we love and claim that river as ours it just the same. I’ve always loved rivers, streams, creeks, and cricks (as my mama would say). 

I could sit alongside any variation of moving water and just abide listening to its song for hours. I always wished I could live along a watercourse, but until I win the lotto, I’m happy to seek its companionship whenever I can; because when I’m in town for work, it’s just a little more than a stone’s throw away, calling out to me, some days louder than others. 

Though I take great joy in “river sitting”, it’s also the place I go when my heart hurts, or when life’s trials get to be a little more than I can bear. Our Animas has her moods too, and now approaches the time when she returns to blue green as the snowmelt wanes and the summer is well on. I think my favorite time is winter: when snow clouds gather, she is charcoal, but when the sky is clear, a deep blue black, dotted with rocks like bones, lit white with snow.

The day I painted this, I thought about how our river is the heart of our community, steadily reflecting this part of the world.