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I suspect many artists find themselves painting the same subjects their whole lives.  What inspires us as young children can last a lifetime.

One of my primary subjects has always been forest streams.  The coolness of the forest, the smell of the damp earth near a stream, the sound of the water, make me want to stop and paint.

Poster paint on paper, childhood painting by Simonne Roy

I found this painting in the attic along with other art my parents saved for me.  This may have been my first plein air day and I was probably about 12 years old.  I rode my bike to the woods about a mile from my (then) home in Rosemont, Pennsylvania to paint this scene. Amazingly, the stream is still there and has not changed much, despite its proximity to Interstate 476 in Delaware County.

I recently spent a week painting at World's End State Park and hiked to a stream where I was able to set up on a boulder in the middle of the water. The sounds, woodsy smells and cool air kept me focused and happy as I painted Waterfall.

Waterfall by Simonne Roy.  Available here.

Here is another painting from the World's End State Park collection.

Deep in the Woods, oil on canvas. Details here.

I now can go further from home than a few miles on a bicycle and can access state parks and forests throughout the Northeast. My passion for painting forest streams remains as strong now as when I began at age twelve.