Pond Reflections

POND REFLECTIONS No.01 by Jane Holden, Acrylic on Birch, 8” x 10”, https://holdenartstudio.ca/2025-new-paintings/

Upon waking I draw the curtain to look out the window for life on the pond, the reflection on the pond gives me the first weather report for the day ahead. The reflections are both alluring and ever changing through colour and light. This spring I have been thoroughly engaged in the pond while the sight lines went from expansive to elusive as the luminous greens filled in the forest to surround the pond.

During a months time, I’ve witnessed pairs of mallard, wood and hooded merganser ducks, seven eastern painted turtles, a big old snapping turtle, a pair of Canada geese, muskrats, identified over 60 different species of birds alongside the pond and listened to the sounds of tree frogs calling from the trees throughout the pitch black of night. On the full moon the pond glows with vivid shadows through the oriel window lighting up the hallway, I often get up in the middle of the night to take in the pond at night when the moon is full.

A year of time has been spent observing the pond daily, throughout the seasons. Learning its patterns, discovering the amphibians, reptiles and water fowl who inhabit, mate and take rest there, and simply observing the reflections on the water. Over the hibernating months I captured a few reference photos of the entire pond, usually at sunrise or sundown. Winter mornings I looked for fresh wildlife tracks as many animals used it for a pathway. Through this time, I have become interested in exploring colour and light on the pond as seen through reflection which is when the spark of the idea for a pond painting was formed.

Living alongside the creek with a natural fed pond makes everyday life interesting. My studio looks over the creek and pond which was chosen by design as I love to be near water. Which may come as a surprise to some of you that I do not look over the field, which I have painted many times now. Recently I have been exploring the imperceptible within the pond, at times I sit in stillness for a long while before witnessing a subtle sign of life at the pond. Little slight movements, a flicker of light, a subtle change in colour, an alter in the reflection on the waters surface, nearly invisible to the eye and observed through nuanced awareness. It is from within these simple quiet musings of the imperceptible that the first pond painting was inspired. 

As I write this blog a pair of honking geese flew over the pond and house towards the field, a female merganser with her five new ducklings paddle the pond perimeter, a red tail hawk spotted the ducklings swooping down to the water surface trying to take one from the mother who fiercely warded him off and a pair of wood ducks feed along the pond surface resting on on a newly felled log. The pond is a place for new life this spring, exactly what has been happening to this old farm, we bring new life to this old place. 

The ways in which the pond captures my interest are endless. I have sat in the oriel window looking down on the pond as I am at this moment, watching a pair of mallard ducks for hours. I have similarly sat on the covered porch for long periods of time observing seven eastern painted turtles basking in the sun on a log in the pond. When I have the energy I walk out the laneway to view the pond from another perspective, it allows me to see into the depths of the pond towards the feeder creek which is surrounded by a forest.

Recently I have been observing the pond through the spring thaw. I was surprised when the pond fully thawed out during an ice storm whilst the land became covered in massively thick sheets of ice, our worst ice storm since 1998. Trees popped and snapped with loud deafening cracks similar in sound to echoing gun shots, several of which fell in to the pond, providing a resting perch for my pond friends. The culvert runs steady with the constant the sound of fast moving water, a sure sound of the spring season. I love listening to the sound of moving water, I grew up swimming in summers on a river by the dam not far from here. I used to slip in between the water falling downwards and the dam wall, it was invigorating, I loved to look out through distorted cascading water. Reminding me of the reflections on the pond which I captured in pond paintings.