On Cascading Waters

This painting by Paul Leasure, although painted near the
artists’ home in California, reminds me of a day in North
Carolina when we stopped alongside the road and took a
little hike back into the Great Smoky Mountains on the
Blue Ridge Parkway. We came upon a stream much like
this. The water tumbled over glistening rock, gurgling its
way to a spot down the mountain to enchant others in its
descent. The sunlight wove its way through the trees and
fell in spotlights on the rocks in the stream, illuminating
the bottom just the way it is in the painting. There was a
light wind blowing which rustled the colorful fall leaves
on the trees around us, whipping up those which had lost
their grip on the limbs above. One wanted to pitch a tent
right on the spot and allow the brook to sing them to sleep.
Mr. Leasure has captured that feeling for me in his series
“Cascading Water”. His use of color and light convey peace
and tranquility, motion and sound, transporting us back to
the beautiful trip through Maggie Valley….