Original Painting: Pantano Marsh by James Edward Scherbarth

A band of gold grass divides a teal sky from deep purple ground, with reeds sprouting at the right.

This original painting, Pantano Marsh, is by James Edward Scherbarth, dated 2010, in oil and cold wax on cradle board, signed and dated en verso. Pantano is the Spanish word for a marsh or swamp, so the title says the same thing twice, and gently. Soft teal fills the upper half, with paler drips running down from the top edge. A ragged strip of yellow-green marks the horizon, giving way at right to thin vertical stalks. Below, a dense violet field carries scratched lines of ochre. It is 12 inches wide and 12 high.

Wetlands, presented without the mosquitoes.