Painting image (click to enlarge)

This tire-tread puddle was a part of a long and winding stream that snaked along and under the roadside through a culvert; a remnant from yesterday’s rain and a watershed for a minute ecosystem. As I was painting, the Director of the botanical gardens Matthew Ross drove up and informed me that the tree that I was painting in the reflection of the water was the State Champion Black Willow, and promised to give me a cutting the following day.