Reset

8x10" Acrylic on Canvas

It's becoming difficult to come across anyone who hasn't been affected by wildfires. This summer's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness wildfires, as well as Canada's wildfires, produced some of the most intense smoke the Northland has experienced. Aside from that, entire Indigenous communities were devastated by the fast moving fires, having to escape by boat. 

Some predictions said the fires could keep going until it snows...I believed it - we were in a major drought with little relief in sight. Thankfully, the rain came and helped the incredible firefighters get the fires down to manageable sizes.

I was lucky enough to visit the BWCA in June, before the wildfires. Though the area I went to wasn't burned, it feels like it's only a matter of time. Spruce bud worm has run rampant in those forests, and there are so many dead and dying balsam firs and spruce, it's astonishing. The forest is trying to recover from ~100 years of heavy logging, but this is part of the result: same-age early successional stands, combined with climate change-induced imbalance of a naturally occurring pest, drought, etc... it's a recipe for intense wildfires. 

Artwork isn't always meant to be happy, but rather to invoke emotion. For me, I felt compelled to paint this ominous scene, with the stark juxtaposition of calm, smooth water with a raging wildfire on the horizon. I felt it's power and weight, and did my best to represent it on canvas. It is a reset...I hope that not all large trees were lost, and that the understory can begin to recover in a way that promotes good fire - a healthy ecosystem.