01923 Sunrise Over the Rice

     Abandoned rice fields lay scattered throughout the low regions of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  Now, alligators inhabit the old canals once used to flood the rice.  I set my kit up next to an old canal, began painting and soon heard the honking of an alligator swimming down the canal in my direction.  I continued painting, I heard him drawing nearer and I kept painting.  When another gator, probably 10 feet away in the brush, grunted back I dropped my brush in my wagon and ran, leaving everything behind.  I had been painting 3 feet from an alligator haul out.  Although not for very far, alligators can run 35 mph on land.  Sunrise Over the Rice measures 16” x 20” (41 x 51 cm) and is oil on canvas.