The Loons

Today I'm sharing the last gift I made for Christmas.

I started this painting in November to give to my husband's parents.

It took about 3 week to paint.

The inspiration for this painting came to me while we were visiting my in-laws cabin.  They have a fantastic cabin in northern Wisconsin.  It's beautiful and sits serenely on it's own lake that it shares with their neighbors. We spent a week out there last summer and had such a fantastic time together.

One night while out on their lake, enjoying a serine pontoon boat ride we were all admiring the sunset as it blissfully sank behind the grove of trees.  My father in law asked me, "How would you paint that scene, Allie?"  He knows I love to paint. "Would you paint all the trees black?  They all look black to me."  He's colorblind, so he often checks to see what colors we're seeing, too.  I told him I'd probably paint it black and green, so capture the trees.

Then suddenly I realized I wanted to capture this moment and paint it for them to hang in their cabin.  Unfortunately all I had on me was our video camera-- which does not take the best quality pictures.

But I took my picture and decided to add the lacking details according to my fancy.

Their lake is really fantastic and fun to play around in, but one of my favorite parts of their lake has to be their two loons that live there.  I knew my painting had to include these loons, too.  Here's the best picture I could take of them. 

Here's some details that I like. 

I'm sure it will look great hanging on their cabin wall.