"Northville Dam - January '07" -- plein air oil study -- 12x16" on stretched canvas

Another gray, dark, drizzly day in Michigan. My friends and I met at the Northville Historical Park this morning, dressed warmly and ready to paint. This place is kind of like a little Greenfield Village, with many Victorian-style buildings. I just wasn't in the mood to paint houses (all those straight lines!), so I piled my antique sled with my painting gear and dragged it over to the north end of the park, to a small dam. To the right of this picture is a beautiful little lake, right in the center of town. It was frozen over and covered with about 2" of snow. Nobody was out on the ice. Too thin (we've had an unusually warm winter). When I walked up to this spot I just fell in love with the abstract design of it. I was looking down at the edge of the dam, with the water cascading down to the left. On the right side of the dam is the thin edge of the ice. To the left are some rocks and clumps of snow-covered ice. It was invigorating to stand there, listening to the roar! I only used 5 colors to paint this: white, yellow ochre, black, pale yellow and ultramarine blue.