This painting explores landscape through the constraints of the Zorn palette. This limited palette is traditionally used for portraits and consists of white, black, red, & yellow ochre. Beneath the surface, a copper underpainting glows through the layers, adding warmth and luminosity, echoing the mineral richness of rock and earth found throughout Algonquin Park.

The scene depicts Misty Lake, painted from reference photographs taken on a backcountry canoe trip. This particular trip also marked the first time I ever portaged a canoe. Until then, I had only carried packs and gear across portage trails. This time, it was my turn to shoulder the canoe.

We had paddled and portaged through rain all day. My friend lifted the canoe onto my shoulders, and I set off, trudging through muddy, rocky terrain, swarmed by mosquitoes and black flies, unable to swat them away as I balanced the 17’ canoe on my short frame. All I could see was the inside of the boat and the narrow strip of ground in front of my feet. I pushed on, the yoke digging painfully into my neck and shoulders, propelled forward by exhaustion and a few loudly spoken choice words.

I remember thinking, Why on earth did I choose this?

When I finally reached the end of the trail, I realized that I didn’t know how to get the canoe off of my shoulders. No one was around and my friend was still far behind. Exhausted and in tears, I crumpled to the ground beneath the canoe. Carefully, I rolled it off me, mindful not to damage our only way out.

And then I saw it.

I saw where I was. Where all of that turmoil I’d just trudged through had led. Misty Lake opened before me: rocky shoreline, a beautiful marshland, clear water and islands in the distance. In that moment, I understood.

I understood why we go through all that hard stuff.

Sometimes it’s a necessary part of the journey to get us somewhere beautiful.