Good Harbor Waves

My favorite time to capture photos for painting references is when the windy weather makes for some dynamic visual situations, and these really draw me to the shoreline.  I love to paint big crashing waves and dramatic cloud formations, I love the unusual colorations of an impending storm.  I especially love being on the beach when God's Nature is reminding me of just how small I am in relation to His beautifully wild and thundering glory.  The photo reference for this painting was taken in the late Spring, last year, and so the colors are warming up some, but still hold some of the freshness of Spring.  As the Summer season progresses each year, we can watch the atmospheric light become more rosy and gold, toward August.  This painting captures so many shades of blue because the light is still cool and bent more toward the blue spectrum of Winter and Early Spring. The posts in the water are from the old loading docks of the Schomberg Hardwood Lumber Company, which was built in the 1870's.   The dock was 500 feet long in order to hold 4 schooners, which could all be loaded at once. The thriving village, Good Harbor, grew up around the docks and supported the lumber industry until the early 1900's when the supply of lumber decreased and a fire burned most of the village.  The Good Harbor Bay itself remains a favorite beach of my family and many of the local people of Leelanau County.  

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