A Quiet Stream

It is not my intention to tell a sad story but this will come from my heart. Until now, the only person I've ever told is my wife and what I'm about to say still saddens me after all these years. When I was an undergrad student at the University of Louisville, our art professor assigned us the task of creating a drawing somewhere in a public location. This could be a park, city sidewalk, or somewhere on the banks of the Ohio River. I selected a quiet local park not too far from the university. I parked my car, set up my easel, and proceeded to draw a section of a creek that was moving slowly through the landscape. My professor had shown us a way to hold vine charcoal in a manner that would create more loose mark making and this was my process. It was about 4pm and I was almost finished when I noticed several geese floating along the edge of the creek. Rather than try to draw them I decided to relax and watch them move along on this quiet afternoon. What happened next was both surreal and shocking. Out of tree line across the water five men appeared all dressed in white shirts and pants. I do not think they could see me. Suddenly, one male decided to pick up a large rock and throw it on top of one of the geese. My peaceful moment with nature was now under attack. The U.S. Marine in me yelled at them as loud as I could. I started running across the water towards them screaming like a madman. I can't remember exactly what I was saying but apparently they were shocked to see and hear me running towards them. They ran very quickly into the woods. After some time I decided to return to my easel. As I walked past the lifeless goose, I just could not understand why they did this. To this day I still don't understand. I also don't know why I chose that location to draw. Was this event something I was supposed to see? Was God showing me this for a reason? I still have many questions even after all these years. I'm not even sure if I was able to finish the drawing that afternoon but I did pack up and leave. The original is framed in our house today. Finally telling this story helps me some but I will always think about that day whenever I walk past my drawing. Thank you for taking the time to read this. To see a larger image of my drawing from that day view my gallery of drawings for A Quiet Stream.

-Stacy C. Bottoms