Under the Canopy: Guided in Shade and Light

Beneath the sheltering branches, where leaves scatter dappled shadows across the water, a mallard mother glides forward, her ducklings close in tow. The canopy above softens the light, creating a quiet refuge along the riverbank—a place where the world feels both protected and alive.

The ducklings follow in a loose procession, their small bodies tracing ripples across the mirrored surface. Some paddle near her side, others drift just behind, but all are held together by the invisible thread of her presence. The mother’s steady course turns this shaded water into a pathway, each stroke of her body teaching, guiding, and reassuring.

“Under the Canopy” is more than a portrait of a brood in motion; it is a meditation on shelter—on the spaces where light and shadow weave together, creating not just protection, but the promise of growth.