Lake at Dusk

Outside of it's unique silhouette, this acrylic on canvas piece, which sits about an inch deep in this gold painted wood frame initially caught my gaze because of it's sheer familiarity. 

Growing up in the north of Ontario, just "north" enough for half the people you meet to say "Oh wow, that's so far!" and the other half to go "Oh I have a uncle in Kapuskasing" and completely invalidate the "northern" brag of the statement, I spent an above average amount of time walking in the "bush". 

Often while trekking through the bush, usually out of just sheer boredom rather than with a set destination, you can tell what's coming ahead by the clearing of trees above. I wonder if the original artist of this piece had a similar upbringing. If they knew this area as a clearing in the bush. A swimming or portage spot in the summer times maybe? A good place to fish? 

As with most pieces on this website, we'll probably never know. No legible signature gives me any sort of hint of when this piece was painted, and by whom. 

What I interpret from it is a tribute to a familiar and loved clearing. Potentially for the reasons and uses suggested above, but also maybe for no reason at all. A birch bark tree, wearing Autumn's hottest fashions poses late afternoon, right before the sun starts to drop on an overcast lake or body of water.