Painting the SHT: Castle Danger to Gooseberry Falls State Park and other paintings

Fall on the Gooseberry River, 8"x 10"

After a multi-year hiatus, my cousin and I revived our annual fall backpack trip.  It was nice to have company on the trail and the evenings, which are long in late October, passed by with campfire, Yukon Jack and cupcakes baked inside orange rinds.  Our intention had been to start at Lake Co. Rd 301 (which would have added 6 miles onto the overnight) but the bridge that crosses the Encampment River was out and the report was that a crossing would have been highly unlikely. We decided to base camp near Wolf Rock instead. I spent the first afternoon painting on the Ridge overlooking Crow Creek valley. The next day we hiked to Gooseberry State Park. I remember being surprised by the subtle beauty of the upper part of the Gooseberry.  It snaked along always with a sandbar at each turn and sometimes steep cliffs. I imagined it would be a perfect place to spend a warm August afternoon-lounging on the sandbars after floating in the current.  On the day I painted, however, floating the current certainly would have meant hypothermia. There wasn't much sun on this trip so I was fortunate to have a respectable light effect.

Another Beauty 8" x 10" Available

I've started a mini-series of paintings of the harbor in Grand Marais. Mostly by accident as there have been some really great light effects lately that have been hard to pass up.  Another Beauty was a mid November evening where the color was almost unbelievable.

Winter in Grand Marais, 8" x 10" Available

It's been a great winter so far and the harbor has had ice in it for most of that time.  The ice usually conforms to the whims of the winds and if there is a good north wind it can often blow out to sea but, possibly because of the "polar vortex", it seems to have frozen enough not to be pushed out of the harbor. Winter in Grand Marais was painted on a day of snow in mid to late December. I was able to stand out of the falling snow on the deck of the Grand Marais Trading Post. Thanks Eric!

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