Described as an artist whose "love of nature amounted to a passion," Charles Salis Kaelin was one of the earliest American artists of Divisionism, where dabs of contrasting color create the effect of light. In Divisionism, artists applied contrasting dots of color side by side so that, when seen from a distance, these dots would blend and be perceived by the retina as a whole. Here, Kaelin uses Divionism in his depiction of the creek, where he applies short brushstrokes of various colors to create the effects of a reflection.