‘The Queen and Jeremiah’

Featured on the cover of The Pen Woman, Spring 2023 (oil, 48×48)

By Amy Patterson, Columbus Branch

My interest in reflections originated from my thesis project. I did a series of paintings of the atmosphere and discovered that the reflections of the sky in bodies of water also piqued my interest. From that point, I developed a passion for trying to capture not only varying cloud formations, but also the reflections of objects floating on the water.

During a visit to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, I was perched on the edge of the waterlily pond when I noticed a pair of eyes peeking out of the water. I documented this little guy as he lazily swam across the pond to bask in the shade of the exact lily I was intending to paint. For those of you who remember the ‘70s, the title is an homage to Three Dog Night’s “Jeremiah was a bullfrog.”