Alpenglow Under Half Moon Rising

2024
12″ x 12″ (felt)
Status: Sivertson Gallery, Grand Marais, MN

Wool needle felting measuring 12″ x 12″. Many fine blended layers of varying shades of blue, teal, pink, purple, yellow, white, and gray went into creating the sky and clouds and their reflection on the water.

The photo inspiration behind this piece, titled ‘Alpenglow Under Half Moon Rising,’ was captured 11 minutes after sunset on November 1, 2022, on Sea Gull Lake near the end of the Gunflint Trail on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The half moon had risen that day at 3:21 p.m. ESE (in the East-to-Southeast) under mostly clear skies, allowing for a clear view of the reflection from the sun’s light on the moon’s surface. Winds were calm that evening, allowing for the moon to reflect on the water’s surface. To top it off, the sunset was in a state of beautiful alpenglow.

The term alpenglow is typically used in reference to sunsets illuminating mountains on the opposite horizon. The term can also refer to indirect sunlight reflected by the aerosols in the eastern sky after sunset or before sunrise, scattered as reddish light above Earth’s shadow. This backscattered light produces a distinct pink band along the clouds on the opposite horizon (which I’ve learned is called the Belt of Venus, a phrase I’m sure to use on a future piece!).