Last summer during the weekends I taught at the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center on Diablo Lake I walked past the arches of Diablo Dam and marveled at the beauty of the blue waters of the lake seen through the arches of the dam. I took pictures at different times of day, hoping to do a painting this year, and a couple of weeks ago I did a couple of preliminary sketches in my journal.
This second sketch was from a photo taken near sunset, and it may be the one I work from first.
Recently I was reading a novella by the Sicilian Leonardo Sciascia called Death and the Knight and I encountered a quote that reminded me of these arches. The main character is strolling among the colonnades in a mainland Italian town and says "Arches make the heavens more lovely" in the words of the poet." I am guessing he may have been referring to Dante or Petrarch, but haven't been able to locate the original source.
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