Summer: Water, Land, and Light

( Odzihozo, Sailboat, Juniper Island (Lake Champlain) --Painting by Kevin Macneil Brown, watercolor on paper, 2009)

At the Lake Champlain shore, water, land, and sky come together in ways that create constantly changing light, shifting vistas. Even from a single vantage point, the total effect--of color, of atmosphere, of dimensions and spatial relationships between objects and landmarks-- can change radically from moment to moment. Noticing this, I can't help but think of Odzihozo, the Abenaki creator and transformer, present visibly now as the majestic rock in the bay.
The painting above is an attempt to capture a moment on the lake: a recent July morning just after fog had lifted to reveal a shimmering and paradoxical combination of haze and luminosity.

Invocation: Lake Champlain

Between Waters I , Between Waters II- Paintings by Kevin Macneil Brown,

watercolor on paper, acrylic on canvas, 2009)

INVOCATION: LAKE CHAMPLAIN

from stone sky mountains
these waters
run together here

into the long,
Almost-always
blue lake ringed
with russet rock, cool green islands


Lamoille
Winooski
Otter Creek

Missisquoi
are a few of the names
given to sacred waters
moving into this
strong confluence

and the long view
in all directions
as if trying to take in the entire way:
Saint Lawrence to Atlantic via cold Gaspe


here today, the hollow
Wind-borne sound
Of new and ancient waves

echoing calls of
ducks and geese and loon
scattered in arrival,
departure; migration

we might well choose now
to welcome the always
of eagle, heron,
osprey

returning to find the same
ever-changing place that we ourselves
behold and become

at the heart of these
pulsing, shimmering waters
this living inland sea.

-Kevin Macneil Brown

July, 2009

from THE MALLEABLE JOURNEY

available here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-malleable-journey/7522632

Lifting Fog/ Searching for Ferris Rock (Painting and Soundwork)

(Lifting Fog, Lake Champlain- painting by Kevin Macneil Brown,
acrylic on canvas, 2009)