Looking out over Grand Portal Point, the sun has nearly set, and is casting bright purples and pinks in the water beneath. Before you, the sheer rock face stretches off into the distance, arriving at an arched dome and finally, at the point that gives this place its name. In the shadows of the cliffs, the water takes on brilliant shades of blue and turquoise. 

This was my first painting of Pictured Rocks national lakeshore done in oil, and it will always be one of my personal favorites. Just starting out on my painting journey, I was still trying to figure out how I wanted to do it, what my style would be, and before long I was just rolling with it. The journey of self discovery as an artist never ends, but I'll always come back to this painting as one of the first few places where the journey began.