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Above: "Fog Rising, Canyon Vista" by Simonne Roy, oil on panel, 6" x 12" Available here.

The rustic wood and stone cabins at World’s End State Park built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930s.

Every year I try to get to World's End State Park in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania for a week of painting. I call this my Walden Week since there is no phone service or wifi. There are several vistas I love to revisit, and after a long day of painting, there is swimming in the creek.

One morning I stepped out of my cabin into a thick wall of fog. If I hadn’t been to World’s End the previous year, I would have assumed it meant a rainy day, but my heart jumped knowing I would get to witness a phenomenon I had seen here once before.

I drove up to Canyon Vista and found myself standing in a cloud looking at the dark wood railing that separated me from the drop off. Everything beyond the railing was white. I knew the mountains were in front of me and the Loyalsock Creek was below me, but I couldn’t it at all.

As I stood staring into the whiteness, the smallest bit of hazy green appeared. I blinked, and it was gone. Then a tiny bit of blue sky was unveiled, then disappeared. I wasn’t sure when the view would appear, but I decided to take a chance and start a painting anyway.  

As an afterthought, I set my iphone camera to “time lapse,” balanced it on the wooden railing, and pressed start.

I painted fast for an hour as the wisps of fog silently spiraled up into the sky and dissolved. Suddenly I could see the mountains - layers of them receding into the distance.

These mountains were once at the bottom of the ocean. As I was thinking about the passage of time, comparing the short time it took the fog to disappear with the eons it took for the creek to carve the canyon....I remembered the CAMERA!

HERE IS THE VIDEO IT CAPTURED (video will open on a separate screen)

Before we leave Canyon Vista, here is another painting of the same view, this one done in the afternoon:

Canyon Vista, oil on canvas panel, 16" x 12" Available here

The next morning I stood along the Loyalsock Creek to paint the scene below: 

Brilliant Morning, oil on panel, 10 x 8" Available here

Creek Fog, Endless Mountains, 12 x 9" Sold. This shows the fog rising from a different part of Loyalsock Creek, along the road just past High Knob Vista.

I paint to capture beautiful and fleeting moments in time – places or objects that stop me in amazement. I'm grateful to have witnessed many such moments at World's End State Park. 

Please tell me about a fleeting moment you saw in one of our state parks, by leaving a comment below.