Familiar ground -- Fire's Creek

This is another view of the bridge at Fire's creek in North Carolina --- well, there's two that I know about. I did an oil from near this spot, this is a pastel, 7" X 11". Usually I don't do a painting over and over, but the area around there is so rich with material for a painting that I find new things all the time. I live in the city, but don't relish painting it. Maybe if I came here from Brasstown, NC, I would be fascinated at all the things there are to paint here. I suppose, like a painter friend of mine said, it's romanticising the nature aspect of the wilderness by hauling your painting gear up into the woods or mountains or an old farm site. That being the case....I was taken by the incoming sunlight and colors of the scene, the sparkle on the water and the trees at the right. And to answer your question.....the "white" areas are not snow, but mud. The low incoming light glanced off the wet mud and rocks and made it look white. I hope I threw in enough other warm and cool off-white colors (that's "colour" to all the UK readers) to define that a little better. I worked on this during down time teaching at my art class on Tuesday night.