Karen Lynn Link Fine Art

I took the photograph for this painting while hiking around Loon Lake with my husband. I took several photographs that day, but this was one of the best. The quality of the early fall light caught my attention immediately. It came through the trees, reflected from the lake, and seemed to work throughout the entire scene.

I had actually painted from this photograph once before. That first painting was made using some experimental techniques that were very hit and miss for me, but something wonderful happened with the light. It had a luminosity that I loved, along with a strong sense of depth and a combination of golden yellows, russets, and greens.

When I decided to return to the subject, I thought having painted it before might make the second painting easier. It didn’t.

One of the reasons I don't make painted studies very often is that I have a tendency to really like the study and then struggle with the finished painting. The very thing I love in the study can be surprisingly difficult to carry into another painting. In this case, I kept trying to recreate the luminosity of the first version. It took several attempts to get close, but I never achieved exactly the same effect.

Eventually, this painting began to find its own way. The original photograph was much more subdued, so I pushed the golden yellows, russets, and greens that I had liked in the earlier painting. I also pushed the color in the lake and the light reflecting from its surface. The water became much more active than it had been in the first painting. It feels as though it's moving rather than sitting quietly within the landscape.

The light still became one of the most important parts of the painting. My eye settles on the bright opening in the sky between the foreground trees on the right and the grouping of trees across the lake. From there, the space continues into the more distant trees. I wanted to preserve that sense of depth and the feeling of light moving through the landscape.

There is something very particular about this moment in the season. The trees have only begun to turn, and the leaves haven't started falling yet. The heat of August has broken, and there is a crispness in the air without it feeling cold. Everything feels calm and quiet, even within the water.

Looking at the two paintings now, I don't think the second needed to recreate the first. The earlier painting has a luminosity that I still love. This one found something different in the water, the color, and the movement of light through the scene.

Sometimes returning to a familiar subject isn't really about repeating what happened before. You get to see where it takes you this time.

First Turning

Acrylic on paper

6 1/4” x 10 1/8”

2026

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