Late Light Breaks Through, Wicks Park
Oil on vellum paper, 14 X 11, 2026

This Plein air painting, done as part of “Fresh Paint: A Plein Air Experience with Capizzo,” captures the moment when warm late-afternoon sunlight suddenly emerged through clearing storm clouds and struck the famous Dawn Redwood tree in Saugatuck’s Wicks Park. The glowing reds, oranges, and golds of the trunk and roots stand in vivid contrast to the cool blues, grays, and greens left by the passing storm.

I was drawn to that brief tension between warmth and coolness—between the lingering atmosphere of the storm and the returning light that transformed the tree.