A warmly streaked morning overcast compelled me to pull over and quickly set up my painting box at the edge of Spring Lake Nature Preserve in the northwest corner of Cook County. At the roadside, where the dormant vegetation had been recently burned off, spring green-up was most pronounced, but in the distance a swath of unburned beige cattails delineated the marshes around Spring and Mud Lakes. I would enjoy further teasing out the relationship between this foreground marsh and those of the lakes as I later worked on a larger presettlement view of the scene.
Painted on the side of Bateman Road, Spring Creek/Spring Lake Preserve.
https://goo.gl/maps/wa5sh7R8YFPkvJ338
Canvas mounted to hardboard.
Exhibition History
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May 1 - September 12, 2021
Chicago Botanic Garden
Glencoe, Illinois
Publication History
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Picturing the Prairie: A Vision of Restoration
Published in conjunction with Philip’s 2021 exhibition at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Contributors include: Philip Juras, artist and author; Hank Paulson, foreword; and Stephen Packard, essay. Published by Little Bluestem Press, Athens, GA, 2021.