IMG_2131 Sundown on Nicolet Bay

Sundown on Nicolet Bay shows the dramatic, nostalgic mood of the last evening of a summer camping trip at Peninsula Park in Door County, Wisconsin.  The structure is the original camp shelter, which houses a long standing bat colony in its  chimney.  Each evening at sundown, campers gather to watch the bats emerge from the chimney and dart in characteristic zig zig fashion to feed in the forests of the peninsula.  Children squeal as they spot these nocturnal bats emerging from the chimney.  Unfortunately, the bats are now endangered because of an epidemic of white nose disease, and their numbers are dwindling.

Aesthetically, this painting was inspired by the reflections of the sunset on Lake Michigan ripples through the right-angled windows of the "bathouse", as it is affectionately called.  Because these windows are so huge and meet at 90 degree angles,  the reflections appear on each pane  and also through them to the lake itself, truly an exciting challenge for the artist.  The other elements of drama in this scene are the vertical layers of clouds lit from underneath, the emphasis upon the height of the white pine, which dominates the sky and dwarfs the figures on the shoreline.  The visual power of this dramatic and fleeting sunset comes from extreme contrasts in value ( dark against light), rich, wet- in - wet saturated silhouette shapes  and the tall, vertical format.  Colors used were Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Thalo Green, Transparent Yellow, Orange and Red Orange, Opera Rose, Alizarin Crimson and Gold Ochre.  The substrate is Arches 300 lb. hot pressed watercolor paper.  The painting is float mounted, matted, and framed in a wood charcoal frame.