Ridges Sanctuary IMG_1728

Ridges Sanctuary is an original watercolor painting of a swale in the nature preserve in Baileys Harbor on the eastern shore of Door County, Wisconsin.  It captures the stillness of the "swales", which are the shallow crescents of water in between the ridges of the rocks submerged around the peninsula's shorelines.  Home to a wide variety of flowers, plants and birds, the Sanctuary is a treasure for visitors and artists.  

In this painting, I used an impressionistic, painterly approach to capture the reflections of the pines, lily pads and clouds, lifting and glazing with layers of color.  My palette included Winsor, Ultramarine and Manganese Blues;   Indian, Transparent Yellow, Raw and Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson, Thalo Green and Sap Green.  Beginning wet in wet over a sketch prepared with masking fluid to portray the slender blades of the grasses, I floated the variety of blues , greens and violet mixtures into the surface, then tilted and held the paper in a slanted position to allow the pigment to move freely over the wet paper.  In following sessions, I used direct painting, expressive brushstrokes and splatter to capture a lively, motion filled natural scene.

Ridges Sanctuary is my latest painting and will be displayed at Cedarburg's Strawberry Festival on June 28 & 29 on Washington Avenue.  It is a full size, room defining landscape, 42" wide and 34" high, float mounted, double matted and framed in a distressed white wood frame with non glare Plexiglas.