Learning to Watercolor

Fracking explorations are beginning in my woods. We rejected requests to come onto our tiny piece of land but our little 21 acres don't matter to them. Property owners on all sides gave them permission when the money crossed their palms. Bulldozers have been preparing sites for the fracking test just across the property lines. I can hardly stand the sound of their careless and violent pushing through the woods taking down anything in their way. Have the drivers noticed the little old woman standing just across the way? On the other side of the property line.

Today they passed me on the road as they went down the road to another property. In this part of the world we all wave at one another. But these people are brought in from elsewhere for this task. What do they care about me or our woods? They passed me by-- tossing dust in the air. I glared at them. They didn't attempt to wave. I would not have waved back. But they don't even know that this is the custom of the land. They'll do the job they have been given and leave. Go home and have a few beers.

A watercorloring friend said to me, "Watercolor whatever you're feeling." I feel so angry, helpless, frustrated, and worried over this second great intrusion upon our woods. (The first was last year when they put in the great pipeline.) If it is at all possible to watercolor such powerful emotions it is certainly outside of my reach right now.

But acrylics I know. I must speak of this violation. I will use the medium I know--not the one I am learning.

 This just doesn't show the agony of the artist in expressing her feelings as Mother Nature is violated time and time again. Up close you would see that the paint has been applied  thickly and with various instruments (including palette knife) has been scrapped back into the canvass. The blood from the earth flows out and turns into a think oily dark green. The bright green of nature edges the scene but it cannot endure this kind of violation for long.

Is humankind on a track toward self destruction?