Old Man River borrows its name from the Old Man River and its headwaters, which run from the great divide of the Canadian Rocky Mountains past the Porcupine Hills out onto the plains and eventually into the South Saskatchewan River and east into the Hudson Bay. The series emerged out of a site-specific experience: the transient seasonal changes in the late fall as water levels continue to drop and cool air envelops the region.

Increasingly interested in blurring the distinction between naturalism and abstraction, Old Man River marks the gradual inching towards the realm of pure abstraction while still retaining its representational referent. Experimenting with densities of paint and broken colour, painterly concerns take precedence over any notion of illusory space. The realm of abstraction is activated to call to mind the direct physical and emotional experience of the elements through sensory perception.