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Above: "Grazing Light, Creekside," details here.

Start with four days of crisp, dry weather and a cabin in the woods. Add starry nights, a stream with rapids to lull you to sleep, vistas, forest trails, waterfalls, a swimming hole, and a great blue heron. Bring an easel, backpack, paints, brushes, a folding chair, hiking pole, your favorite foods and a book or two. That's a recipe for a perfect painting trip!

I found all these things at World’s End State Park in early June.

Located in north-central Pennsylvania, the park is only an hour from my home, but feels like a world apart. The absence of phone service or internet makes it seem even more remote. 

My cozy cabin with a bunk bed, a stove, and refrigerator - enough comforts to be able to concentrate on painting.

Sourdough pancakes - fuel for painting 

I started my four-day stay at the top of Canyon Vista with its layers of mountains going off to the horizon, and where you see why the park is called "World’s End.” * 

Easel at Canyon Vista

"Canyon Vista, Spring Morning" Details here.

At 8:30 a.m. the mountains were bathed in sunlight with just a few shadows to give structure to the scene. Compare the spring morning painting above to the painting below done in the afternoon and later in the summer. This shows how quickly the greens darken from June to July and how the shadows shift from morning to afternoon. 

"Canyon Vista, Midsummer" Details here. 

At the bottom of both paintings you can see the Loyalsock Creek and a stony beach. You can't make out the cabins, but they are in the woods just to the right of the beach. 

In the afternoon I carried my gear down these steps from the cabin to the creek.

Between the splashing and gurgling creek sounds and working fast to capture the quickly shifting sunlight, I lost all sense of time. When finished, I was happy with the results and hardly touched the painting in the studio. I don't always get so lucky!

"Grazing Light, Creekside," details here.

The Loyalsock Creek alternates between wide pools and narrow bends with noisy rushing rapids (I remember those from my canoeing days). On the morning of the second day, I drove upstream to a quiet pool and favorite swimming spot with a few rapids visible upstream. The sun was in the east (right side) and lighting up a cluster of hemlocks on the left bank. I tried to capture the earth-colored rocks on the bottom of the stream and the reflections of trees and sky. 

"Quiet Water, Loyalsock Creek" details here.

Another wonderful feature of World’s End State Park is its swimming beach - a bend in the creek with a roped-off area, stone wall, ladders, and a place to change clothes. On this trip the water was icy, but I couldn't resist going in. The view from eye level in the water is amazing!

The swimming beach was the subject of two paintings done on two different days.

"Swimming Hole, World's End State Park"  Details here.

"Swimming Area, World's End State Park" Details here.

As I painted, I thought gratefully of the Civilian Conservation Corps who built the dam and retaining wall to create this swimming area. They also built the cabins and pavilions in the park - impressive structures that are about 100 years old.

The Loyalsock is an endless source of inspiration for me. One evening I watched a dignified great blue heron standing still while a small black duck bobbed nearby. They seemed to be enjoying each other’s company and they moved together to different spots in the stream. When I got home, I remembered a painting I had done of the creek years before and added the heron to it. 

"Along the Creek," Details here.

"Lupines, Visitor's Center, World's End State Park" Details here.

At the end of my last day, I stopped by the Visitor's Center to drop off the cabin key and take a peek at the native plant garden out back. The garden was buzzing with hummingbirds and clusters of blue lupines were at their peak of bloom - it was impossible to leave without doing a final painting. 

As I painted, a couple of hikers came by, beginning their hike up to Canyon Vista where I started my four days of painting. I admired their stamina to be starting a hike at suppertime and wished I didn't have to leave. Even after coming here for over twenty years, there are still places in this special park I want to paint, or paint again.

That night when I closed my eyes, I could still hear the mesmerizing sounds of the creek.

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*Another theory about the park’s name is that it was first called “Whorl’s End” and through folk etymology the “whorl” of water in the creek became “world.” You can learn more about the park and its name here.