O’Quinn Lake is a moody, atmospheric studio acrylic painting that captures the quiet, almost haunting beauty of a once-large lake near Don Yaun’s hometown of Hazlehurst, Georgia. This 12″ × 9″ work on gesso board, created in 2026, was painted from a recent reference photo taken during a visit home. Over the decades, O’Quinn Lake has shrunk dramatically due to overgrowth, vegetation encroachment, and nearby farming development, transforming its open waters into a swampy, marsh-like expanse filled with algae, dense clumps of plants, and skeletal winter trees stripped of leaves.
The composition emphasizes the stark contrast: dark, leafless trunks and branches rise against a winter sky, their reflections rippling in the shallow, murky water. The scene feels both serene and slightly eerie—beautiful in its desolation, like a frame from a dark, atmospheric movie. Don’s loose, impressionistic brushwork enhances the sense of mystery, with subtle textures on the gesso board adding depth to the swampy foreground and distant tree line.
This painting serves as a quiet tribute to the changing landscape of South Georgia—places once familiar now reclaimed by nature, preserved in photos, art and memories.