Cottonwood Grove: Oil on Canvas -- 12x16. We get little enough snow in this area, and it generally melts away a few days after it falls, that I can be free to say that I love the stuff. As soon as the meadow grass is covered enough not to see, I pull out the cross country skis and make the rounds on our property.

Of course, this simply adds to the list of eccentric activities for our neighbors to observe and comment on. ("You walk around your property everyday, don't you? You and your wife? And your kids too?") I have never understood why this seems so odd. If you own acreage, why not walk on it? Why spend money to join a gym and walk on a treadmill when the path that you've worn on your land is free (barring property taxes, that is)?

Cottonwood Grove represents a favorite spot on our daily walk -- near the river, a copse of young trees sprung from older sires to the west -- we watch it grow season by season until it will be an established area of its own. Original oil painting by Steve Henderson of Steve Henderson Fine Art.

Dawn: Oil on Canvas -- 42x42.  Sunsets and sunrises in Eastern Washington are glorious events. The more prosaic minded no doubt attribute this to dust in the air; undoubtably this has something to do with it, but I prefer to think that it is the atmosphere as a whole that lends itself to presenting such grand entrances and exits to the day.

The way that water reflects the colors and emotions of the sky above it always draws my attention. It is as if there were two landscapes -- one above, and one below -- that meld and merge together into one cohesive whole.

Original oil painting by Steve Henderson of Steve Henderson Fine Art.

After the Harvest Rain: Oil on Canvas -- 23x27. Despite Washington State's reputation of being a wet, rainy place, here on the eastern side of the state the weather gets a little dry, especially during our delightfully warm summers. Wheat does not turn that rich, golden color without a number of sunny, golden days.