It was a beautiful day to paint. I had contacted my good friend Rich Jones a couple days before, saying I'd be in Iowa and asking if he'd want to go painting with me. He quickly answered with a "Yes!" and we met up in the small town of Donahue when Sunday morning came around. Painting Iowa is always special to me, as that's where I grew up, have friends and family, and one of the main reasons I love the landscape so dearly. This time around, my daughter Alexi and our dog Kurbi came along, too, proving to be an extra special treat.

Rich led us to a wonderful area, almost magical in its remoteness and simple beauty. After a look around for the perfect spot, Rich exclaimed in a moment of panic that the glasses he had on his head were no longer there. They must have fallen off somewhere on our walk while looking for a spot to set up. These weren't the cheap sunglasses you buy at a gas station, but the prescription kind with transition filtering and all the works. After a look around where he noticed them missing and not finding a thing, we walked back to the cars. Sure enough, they were on the gravel road near where we left our backpacks. Having worn glasses since I was 3 years old, I can't fathom how one can misplace glasses that were on one's head, but it's not like I haven't done stupid things, too. One time when I was young, I fell asleep on the couch while we were visiting my grandparents. I awoke being able to see everything clearly. Surely a miracle had happened. I felt ecstatic that my horrible eyesight was cured and believed this deeply…until I reached up and felt the glasses on my nose that I had fallen asleep with. So I wasn't about to judge my friend. But I digress. 

With the hiccup solved, we set up our gear and got to painting. Alexi and Kurbi sat down on the road a short distance from us, drawing in my sketchpad. Rich and I worked diligently trying to understand the reflections and lighting of the pond scene before us. 

After a couple hours of working, Rich and I were in the home stretch of our pieces. Alexi had drawn some roses and came over to show me. Kurbi followed her. Alexi started taking some photos of us painting, which made me happy, since I'm usually out painting alone and don't get these kind of shots. Kurbi sat down on the edge of the road beside me. (You can see where Kurbi is in this picture and how tall the grass is by the road. This makes a big difference in what comes next.)

As I'm putting some final touches on my painting, I hear my daughter yell to our dog. I look down and Kurbi has decided to lie down in the grass. No big deal. What we didn't realize was just how close the water was. I thought that the water was a few feet away from us, where you would imagine the grass would meet the water in the photo. But reality was different. Much of that grass was growing out of the water. Kurbi began sliding backwards toward the water, the grass slowing gravity and keeping her from total immersion in the pond. But with every struggle to get to her feet, the grass gave way a little more, flattening out and causing Kurbi to slide closer to what I believe will be an inevitable plunge. I reached to grab her, but like a bug on its back, Kurbi just wriggled away from my hand, not making any progress in her attempt to stand, and instead making it worse. I mentally prepared myself for having to jump in after her. Not something I cherished, but one I would be willing to do in a heartbeat.

Luckily, that didn't happen. After a couple attempts, I finally got a hold of her collar and worked at pulling her towards me so I could get my other hand on her body and pull her back from the brink. Once again she was on solid land, tail wagging and smiling at us.

It was a close call, but in the end everything turned out all right. Kurbi remained safe and dry We all had a great laugh about the near miss. I ended up with a painting I was pretty happy with and got to paint with my friend and my daughter. It really was a beautiful day to paint.

Note: For those interested, my painting can be seen at the 93rd Annual Hoosier Salon Exhibit, July 27 – October 8, 2017 at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, IN.