Gitche Gumee

Lake Superior is my favorite place in the world. Its rocky shores have all of my most beloved things: rugged cliffs, the smell of pine trees, waterfalls, beautiful beach stones, crashing waves, and just the feeling of being in the Northwoods. The numerous camping and day trips I’ve taken to the area have made Lake Superior my home away from home.

This particular painting was carefully rendered from a photograph taken at Gooseberry Falls State Park on Lake Superior’s north shore in Minnesota. 

Lake Superior is a lake of many moods. Sometimes it’s even more wild than the ocean, and other times it is just a perfect, crystal-clear continuation of the sky.

I could spend hours and hours just looking at the rocks on the beaches (and I have). Always searching for the elusive Lake Superior agate, I always come home with a new pile of colorful, unique rocks.

Some of the shores, especially in Minnesota, also have big boulders and cliffs that are perfect for climbing all over.

On this trip we spent plenty of time rock-collecting, waterfalling, and just staring at the waves. We also tried the bike trail that hugs the shore. We quickly discovered it was amazingly gorgeous but extremely grueling. It’s just steep hill after steep hill. 

Biking and hiking are wonderful, but my favorite thing is to just sit on the beach and watch those wild waves. In this painting I wanted to focus on a smaller scene rather than the grand expanse my paintings usually feature. I hoped to capture the water’s motion, the dancing of the sunlight, and the slipperiness of the rocky shoreline.