There was a struggling American Plum in my mother’s front yard. It was trapped by pines, and every year it would hang low enough to scratch the top of the cars backing out of the driveway.

Sadly, the plum’s been removed. But in its last spring, I brought a flowering branch home to do some sketching on my patio. Within minutes, the fresh blossoms attracted a lovely mining bee, one of the earliest native Indiana bees to emerge each year. Early flowering trees like the plum provide spring bees with essential food when little else is blooming. I like to include this piece when I exhibit a collection of bird artwork because insects are a critical food source for many birds. Insects that pollinate do double work and ensure food sources for birds and wildlife.

The phrase “beautiful spring brook” is lifted from the text decorating this piece. The words are reproduced from nineteenth century Land Survey notes for Porter County Indiana. It’s rare to find a reference to beauty in these notes, which are mostly dry descriptions of the widths of trees and the locations of survey posts. But every now and then a phrase escapes the pen of the surveyor suggesting “I see this place.”

Beautiful Spring Brook is available for purchase. Contact me for more information.