Water Reaching for Itself, Willamette Flood #3
April Waters is fascinated by floods. They are the definition of her interests and the culmination of her artistic pursuits- the ever-changing nature of water and the way it alters the landscape around it as well.
Water Reaching for Itself, Willamette Flood #3 is a horizontal aerial view of the South Willamette Valley on a slightly overcast day during a flood. In terms of the color palette, the painting is earth toned with blue tints and accents. The water is deep blue, the sky is pale blue with some white and yellow, the nature is green and brown, and the entire painting is brightly lit. Though we mostly see the patches of agricultural land and the winding water that surrounds it, there are also mountains in the very background as well as indistinguishable shapes right before the mountains that, even in person, are uncertain. It is highly detailed, almost photorealistic, with a smooth finish and inviting aura. The color's are warm, the water is opaque but not scary in its unknowability, rather it looks to be cradling the land around it- irrigating and saturating the crops until the flood is over. Light shines down on the land from all over, dousing the landscape in a comforting glow. Thus, this painting takes something that for some may be overwhelming and scary, a flood, and positions it as something natural, a thing of comfort, and a thing of beauty.
In order to get good images of the floods, Waters hired someone to take her up in a helicopter, and they took pictures of this area. What she did not realize is that she had been to this place before and painted this scene when the blueberry fields were red and in bloom. She subconsciously returned to the same place to see how water changed the landscape and covered the fields creating a temporary new scene- describing it as a jigsaw puzzle that she didn’t understand until it was finished.
Waters says she follows the path of water, seeks different experiences with water, and represents visions of it in different states of being- that is why she loves floods and painted this. The water reaches for itself as Waters herself also seeks it and follows where it may lead.