Small Bay

Underneath other papers in the battered tin box that Catherine found beneath the floor boards of the old cottage, she uncovered a fragile journal with sketches and writing in it.

The journal had apparently been kept by Catherine’s great-grandmother, Julia, who interspersed sketches of the area around their cottage with diary entries. Wirh some of the sketches she wrote a description or explanation of the scene she had sketched.

On the last page of the journal was a sketch titled, Small Bay. Underneath it, a note, which appeared to have been added later: “Gustave’s favorite place to fish — a little cove across the lake — we called it the Small Bay. He caught a lot of fish there and we ate many good meals from his catches. The day before he left for the war was a cool, beautiful sunny day, so we rowed over to Small Bay one more time.

"He dropped off Mildred and me on the shore, and I found a perch where I could watch Mildred throw stones into the lake while I drew this sketch. Gustave sat fishing in the rowboat for a nice long while, and was happy to catch our supper one last time.

“I wanted to give him this sketch to remind him of us and this place while he was away. But in the commotion, I forgot to give it to him before he left, so I made another drawing just like it and mailed it to him in France. When they returned all his things, I found the frayed sketch folded in the shirt pocket of his uniform.” 

Woodblock print with watercolor
3.5" x 4"; Edition of 20

(names, events, and story are fictional)

Snow on the St Croix

Winter canoeing or kayaking on the St Croix: peaceful and beautiful. This image is of the basalt cliffs on the St Croix River between Stillwater, MN and Taylors Falls, MN. The St Croix, a National Scenic Riverway, is one of the most beautiful river valleys in the country. There is archaeological evidence that the river and area around it has been inhabited for three to four thousand years at least. In the 1800s, the river was used to transport logs from northern Wisconsin and Minnesota to sawmills further downstream. The area around the Dalles of the St Croix, which this image pictures, was the site of a huge logjam in 1883, taking several months to untangle. 

One-block reduction woodblock print; 6" x 8"
Edition of 16

St Croix at Taylors Falls

A view of the St Croix River, which forms part of the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin, at Taylors Falls — the Dalles of the St Croix — from the Minnesota bank looking toward Wisconsin. 

Woodblock print with watercolor; 2" x 7.375"
Edition of 50

Shimmering Water

This is one of two woodblock prints I made in a series on the lakes of the north in autumn, both of them interpretations of the work of Lawren Harris, a member of the Canadian Group of Seven artists.

“I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets."  - Hamlin Garland

Woodblock print; 6.75″ x 8.75″;
Edition of 50; 19 remaining.

Stillness of Autumn

This is one of two prints in a series based on the work of Lawren Harris of the Group of Seven. A sense of stillness and calm and the quintessential feeling of autumn in the north.

Woodblock print; 6.75" x 8.75";
Edition of 50; 12 remaining

Frog of the Year

“She dotes on poetry, sir. She adores it; I may say that her whole soul and mind are wound up, and entwined with it. She has produced some delightful pieces, herself, sir. You may have met with her 'Ode to an Expiring Frog,' sir.”
- Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

Woodblock print with watercolor;
5.5" x 6.25"; Edition of 50

Isle Royale National Park

This is the first in a series of woodblock prints of the National Parks I'm starting. It's a view of Isle Royale, off the northeastern tip of Minnesota in Lake Superior. A one-block print with watercolor added after printing.

Woodblock print with watercolor
5.625″ x 5.375″; Edition of 50.

The Calm Before the Storm

A sense of stillness and unnatural calmness settles in as dark clouds build and the air gets heavy. Thunder grows louder in the not-so-distance. Canoeists paddle with urgency to get back to camp before the storm hits. They've almost made it.
Woodblock print; 5.5" x 8.25"
Edition of 12

SOLD OUT

Woodblock print - Solemn Snow

Solemn Snow is a reduction woodblock print pulled from a single block of cherry wood. 6″ x 7.25″; Somerset paper; oil-based inks; Edition of 15; 4 prints remaining.

New woodblock print - Cascade Waterfall

A new woodblock print, with watercolor, of a scene characteristic of the Cascade River on the north shore of Lake Superior. The river has carved out rugged paths in the rock, leaving both falls and pools throughout the forest in the hills just above Lake Superior. This print is a one-block print in black with watercolor added after printing.

5.5" x 4"; Edition of 24

New woodblock print with watercolor - The River Runs II

River Runs II is another version of the smaller five block print, The River Runs, that I did a few years ago. The scene is of the Gallatin River in western Montana, between Bozeman and Big Sky.

8" x 8.5" On Somerset paper. Edition of 20

Woodblock print - White Pine Camp

White Pine Camp - woodblock print with watercolor

Woodblock print of a camping trip to Minnesota's north woods, south of the 49th parallel, where there are white pines tall enough to loosen your imagination and brighten your mind. Camping next to them is like acquiring new 150 year old neighbors strong enough to have stuck around and shared in the geographic and meteorologic habitat since your great-grandparents visited for a night or two in the same place, if they'd had the chance. 5.5" x 4"; Edition of 20