The Bog is gone now.

The final phase of our pond removal plan took place today, although I don't think I ever thought about it as a plan that we set out to do. Steve had it in his head, I suppose, to get it done one of these days, and being one not to waste time, one of these days was today.

I had a different project to complete, however: I wanted to finish the three panels that will become a fishing booth at our church's spring fling this coming Saturday.

I started painting it yesterday, blocking in all the large areas of color (the sky, the pond mid-ground, and the pond foreground).

This morning, I attacked the details, which included cattails, irises and a water snake on the side panels, and a mud turtle, pickerel frog, salamander, and catfish on the center panel, the catfish being the center of interest.

Last week, when I was thinking about what kind of fishing scene to paint (ocean, river, pond), and what style of painting to use (cartoony, carnivally and primary colors, realistic, impressionistic), and point of view (underwater scene, looking from above, frog's eye view, kid's eye view), I decided to paint a pond (because I know the pond better than the other locations), and used an illustrative style combining some impressionism and some realism, and the point of view of an animal at the edge of the pond.

I love the shape of the catfish body, and the dark contrast it makes against the sky as it hangs from the fishhook. After all, this is to be a Fishing Booth. The kids have to pretend they are fishing.

Catfish are common fare around here. My favorite fish in our koi pond were the great black catfish that mostly stayed at the bottom, but when they swam to the top they were spectacular to watch.

So as Steve took apart the bog, the last remaining piece of the pond he created back in 1989, I was painting the pond and highlighting some of my favorite features: the catfish, the water snake who lived within the rocks of the pond, the frogs, salamanders, and the plant life. Although we never fished in the pond, and never caught a catfish by hook in this pond, I had to depict it for the spring fling booth.

The irony does not escape me. If someone could have taken a picture of our yard, you would see Steve tearing down the bog and carrying away the last of the plants, and filling in the hole, and you would see me furiously painting it all from memory onto three wooden panels without any of the "right" colors. I didn't put in all the plants, nor any of the koi. I wanted to: the pond lilies and dragonflies were on my mind ... but after eight hours of painting, I was tired and ready to quit.

Yeah, it took me that long. Setting up all the materials, painted for five hours, then moved everything to a new location (I was working outside) when my shade disappeared, then setting up everything again in a shadier spot, didn't help save any time. Feeling nauseous slowed me down too. But I finished it to the point I was willing to say "It's done." Had I felt better, I might have gone further with the details.

You might say it was my last attempt to keep the pond's memory.

But I do have all the photos I took on digital camera for the past two years, and all the photos and video footage I took for seventeen years. Yes, I have the memories.

The last four photos in the slideshow above show some views of the real pond that I will always cherish.