Dusk on the Escarpment Card

In Autumn 2014 I was an artist-in-residence at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. These mountains stand on the southern shore of the great Lake Superior and are one of the few remaining large wilderness areas in the Midwest. They are rich in wildlife and natural splendor. One of the most scenic areas is the Lake of the Clouds, which can be viewed from the escarpment that rises above it. I spent a great deal of time hiking along the Escarpment Trail and soaking in the rare beauty of that place, which in Autumn is ablaze in vivid colors. I was espcecially enamored with the pines that grew along the trail, and spent a long afternoon sketching them and listening to the wind whispering through their needles. That sketch later became this pastel, my tribute to a wilderness teeming with beauty.