Sundown on Superior

Lake Superior, 14” x 12”, oil on panel, 2003

The last moments of the day on Lake Superior.

While painting outdoors, I am often faced with gray skies, conditions that are not always conducive to compelling colourful imagery. But I make the most of it and try to shift my focus to the textures and forms in the surroundings, and find myself looking at things a little differently. This is how I settled on painting this scene. I liked thetexture of the old tree in the foreground surrounded by the mixed growth, and the contrasting rounded rock in the background.

As often happens, if you stay long enough things are bound to change. So it was on this occasion that for mere moments the sun peaked through before setting, adding a final touch of colour to this scene.