Original artwork description:

This painting is inspired by a recent trip that my wife and I took to my hometown area of northern Minnesota. We stayed at a resort called Blue Fin Bay and our room was an end unit next to Tofte Cove. It was a private beach and cove area and we spent a lot of time walking across the rocks and beach of Lake Superior. Each night I liked going down to the cove's beach after dark and just listen to the lake.

It was mid July and hot and humid. The Lightning Bugs (aka Fireflies) were out in force. When I was growing up my grandmothers, aunts and my mother would tell us stories from the old country (Yugoslavia) and we were told that Fairies ride on the backs of Lightning Bugs. In many European folklore stories Fairies are not nice beings. They like to entice people into Fairy Rings, where if you enter after dark you get captured, and are made to dance for a year and a day. They also like to draw you into predicaments that are dangerous.

Lynn and I came home late one night and she went right to bed. I decided to stay outside and maybe go down to the lake. Lake Superior had been as calm as glass that day and it stayed that way into the night. There was a ramp that led down to the beach and alongside it there was a large bush. The Lightning Bugs seemed to congregate in it and swarmed in and out of the bush. Their movements were hypnotic. As I was watching them I listened to the lake. There was a soft lapping of waves and in between the waves I heard a females voice. I couldn't make out the words and I felt myself being drawn closer so I could hear what she was saying. I got to the top of the ramp and off to my left in the lake I saw a woman with long flowing dark hair dressed in a white gown. The closer I got to the ramp and bush the more agitated the Lightning Bugs became. At the top of the ramp I suddenly flashed on my father (my father passed away in Nov. 1994) and he said "The Lady in the Lake." If you knew my father you would know that he was not one who subscribed to "Old Wives Tales". I became frightened and backed away from the ramp and farther up to the parking lot. The Lightning Bugs followed me and flew around as if trying to entice me back to the ramp and beach. I didn't go.

It took me a day to tell Lynn what had happened. I thought I remembered a conversation with my father and mother and dad said "The Lady in the Lake" and my mother answered "Oh Al!" But I can't remember any of the conversation that preceded my father's remark. I do remember being taught as I grew up to have respect for Lake Superior. Despite its beauty it can be a very unforgiving, dangerous place. Upon my return to Bismarck I researched any legends or stories of "The Lady in The Lake" but there aren't any for Lake Superior.

Materials used:

Acrylic