BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – I fell in love with Louisiana’s beautiful landscapes years ago, and I’ve been fortunate to have spent years traveling along bayous through forests and back roads, capturing video and photographs of what I see.

Since I was a child, I’ve seen this painting of a winding road through the woods at sunset. First in my grandmother’s house, then my parents, and now in my home. There is unspoiled nature here. I noticed the large trees, the moss and wildflowers. It was painted in 1926 by my elderly great-great-grandmother, Eleanor Lewis, who lived in Loranger. She signed her initials and the date on the painting,

“I see a painter who’s trying to evoke a feeling, the feeling that the landscape gives to her. I love her dramatic use of lighting and capturing this kind of vibrant sunset here.”

Bradley Sumrall is the curator of collections at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. The museum has a gallery of southern landscape paintings. When we look at something that was painted in the mid 19th century of a landscape, can we trust that that’s the way that it really looked? Or is there a lot of artistic license that goes into some of these?

“For the most part, painters were painting the reality of the landscape,” said Sumrall.

But these images of bayous, bays, forests, and seascapes have something else that you don’t always get from a photograph.

“A photograph depicts the world as it is, whereas a painting can depict the world as we truly feel it,” Sumrall said.

Sumrall pointed to this painting by Joseph Meeker of Bayou Plaquemine from 1881.

“People that are not from Louisiana, I think they see that landscape with the sky on fire and they think, well, he took artistic license. No sunset is like that. But if you’re from south Louisiana, you do know that we have those sunsets,” said Sumrall.

Those sunsets still exist. I’ve seen them throughout Louisiana, a fiery sky shining through moss and cypress trees reflecting in the water. But does this place still exist? The one seen by my great-great-grandmother Lewis.

I remembered seeing writing on the back before I added a new frame. Someone had written a location. Well, there it is. On the Tangipahoa River, west and north of Dunnington Bridge in the swampland. I found the bridge south of Loranger. And with the landowner’s permission walked through the woods where perhaps my ancestor was inspired by its beauty. As I walked, I found a large old tree that looked similar to one in the painting. And I have to wonder if this, this tree might have been here 99 years ago when my great-great-grandmother was walking through these woods.

For me, this large tree was a connection between a landscape and an artist. And I couldn’t help but think that Eleanor Lewis’s love of our state’s natural beauty, had somehow survived for four generations.

More Louisiana landscapes and places to visit can be found on Heart of Louisiana’s website.

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CLARENCE, La. (KSLA) – Four people were shot during a trail ride event in Natchitoches Parish.

On March 22, at 7:47 p.m., the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to multiple reports of shots fired at a trail ride event off of Catholic Lane in Clarence, Louisiana.

Upon arrival, deputies were met with heavy traffic and a crowd of over a thousand people. Four people were discovered with gunshot injuries.

Emergency medical units from Natchitoches Regional Medical Center and Air EVAC Life Team helicopters were sent to transport the victims.

Victims

• A 22-year-old woman with non-life-threatening injuries.
• A 16-year-old boy with non-life-threatening injuries.
• A 16-year-old boy was transported to a regional trauma center. His condition is unknown.
• A 20-year-old man was transported to a regional trauma center. His condition is unknown.

NPSO and the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations are leading the investigation.

Detectives believe the suspect fled the scene before law enforcement arrived.

Special lighting equipment from Natchitoches Parish Fire Protection District #9 was used to photograph and process the scene for over three hours.

A private group provided security for the event, and NPSO was not provided details for the event.

The investigation is ongoing. Detectives are asking you to come forward if you have any information or video footage.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the NPSO Criminal Investigations Bureau at (318) 357-7830, the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office at (318) 357-7851, or Crime Stoppers of Natchitoches at (318) 238-2388. Tips may be eligible for a reward and will remain confidential.

Copyright 2025 KSLA. All rights reserved.

ROSEDALE – An artist is getting national attention for her use of a Japanese art form to showcase the alligator, one of Louisiana’s most famous animals.

The artist’s name is Leslie Charleville of L. Charleville Studios.

“The art style is gyotaku. It’s an old Japanese technique where fishermen used to come in back in the seventeenth century and there would be people there with rice paper and Sumi ink and they would paint the fish, press it to paper, and give an exact impression of it,” Charleville said.

Over the last 14 years, she has used this style of art to paint and draw hundreds to thousands of animals. These pieces include shrimp, crabs, and more. Her most famous work is alligators.

Her busiest time of the year for her art work is during alligator hunting season, which she says is only September and some parts of October.

“It’s highly regulated by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. I mean there’s only a certain number of tags that go out, it’s managed between the farms and you know the tag system,” Charleville said.

Hunters call her almost every day during gator season, hoping to have them printed after the gator has been tagged.

“I went and hung out and Pierre Part and they were kind enough and generous enough to let me print their alligators,” Charleville said.

She explained the process of making this art.

“We hose it off, clean it, position it the way that it needs to be positioned, roll it with paint, press it, drop it to the canvas, and of course, it takes a couple of people with these large alligators. Do all the pressing and the rubbing, and try to get as much detail,” Charleville said.

After that, she’ll paint and design it, with most of them then being up for sale.

She says the things that she enjoys most about doing this artwork are the people she gets to interact with and says this art is a way of preserving the animal’s memory.

“It brings me such joy to see the things that were created, brought back to life in a way that honors the animal and I mean his DNA is on the canvas,” Charleville said.

Charleville says her art work will be on display at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum on April 2. It will be up until around mid-May.

“It’s a huge honor. A lot of artists never get to see their work hanging in a museum and so I don’t take it lightly,” Charleville said.