Picnic Shelter | Othello, WA | 2009
It called for a steaming bowl of chili or beef stew. Instead, that day’s brutally cold lakeside lunch — 20 degrees, north wind, no sun — was chilled even further by my pathetically limp sandwich (sliced turkey and cheese). But, even in winter, I love this particular waterfront picnic shelter tucked under the spread of a gorgeous tree (admittedly spooky when bare) on the banks of Potholes Reservoir. Visually, the lake strips away elements of the already-austere landscape to leave mostly horizontals and negative space. My compositional favorites, punctuated sparsely by jutting verticals: the shelter, the tree, the cloud of my breath rising skyward.
