Cypresses on Bayou Dorcheat

Cypresses, Oil on Linen,  56" x 34"

Bald cypresses are deciduous conifers that grow on saturated and inundated soil.  They are very longed lived and slow growing reaching heights of 150'. The name bald is given because unlike other cypresses this species is deciduous.  One of the beautiful aspects of the tree are its knees. A cypress knee is a woody projection forming off the roots and vertically upward through the water.  Their function is unknown although some scientists have thought they may help in oxygenation; there is no proof for this, however.  A more likely function is a buttress to the tree's roots or even an assist in anchoring the tree in the soft muddy soil.

Bayou Dorcheat is a stream whose source is in Nevada County, Arkansas and mouth ends some 115 miles later in Lake Bistineau, Louisiana. Bayou is a French term used in the US for a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area.  It can refer to a slow-moving stream or river, or to a marshy lake or wetland.  Dorcheat is the typical slow moving stream which widens at places into a river. This painting is a composed of points of view taken from photographs my brother, John Ed, took while boating on Dorcheat.  It will be going to Arkansas where it will reside in the home of my brother Robert and his wife Marla near Dorcheat.