Chiwaukee Prairie

Kenosha County, Wisconsin
2019
Oil on canvas
36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

Private collection

More than 400 species of native plants can be found in the remnant dune and swale environment of Chiwaukee Prairie, a Wisconsin DNR preserve on the shore of Lake Michigan just north of the Illinois state line. Visiting this national natural landmark reveals the wealth of diversity of the historic prairie. With rosinweed, blazing star, black-eyed Susan, and many other species pictured in the foreground, this painting records the last few moments of a July day when a dull, overcast sky finally gave way to a sunset worthy of Chiwaukee’s spectacular remnant prairie flora. Even in the dimming light, the patterns of wet swales and low ridges could be discerned through the various textures and colors in the vegetation.

See Field Museum Field Guide for this painting (page 1).

Site location: https://goo.gl/maps/V8aVR8KzupHK25jD6

Species depicted include:
Nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum)
Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium)
Marsh gay flower (Liatris spicata)
Meadowsweet (Spirea alba)
Common mountain mint (Pycanthemum virginianum)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)
Kalms St. John’s wort (Hypericum kalmianum)

Studio painting – May.

Exhibition History

Publication History