Photo Shoot - John Muir Park

     Inge & I took a venture out to visit the boyhood stomping grounds of the famous naturalist and explorer, John Muir.  Our journey took us about 10 miles north of Portage Wisconsin on County Highway F, in the township of Buffalo in Marquette County.  Already noticing the many butterflies along the roadsides Inge is putting her zoom lens on her camera in hopes of seeing a few more varieties to add to her collection of butterfly photos, as well as take pictures of our artwork amidst the inspirational scene.

     The Muir Family homesteaded the land around this lake in 1849.  He spent his teenage years working the farm across from the lake. He found his love of nature in the "sunny woods" and the lake rimmed with lilly pads.

     John Muir was very concerned about preserving this precious lake meadow area, so he bought the 40 acres surrounding the lake from his brother-in-law.  He requested that a fence be built around it, so that cattle or hogs could not break into it.

His dream was to keep it un-trampled for the sake of its ferns and flowers. This was his first attempt to preserve land for its beauty.

Black Swallowtail on Compass Plant

The moment we entered the prairie around the pond we sighted so many butterflies, Inge had fun trying to get good pictures of them. The Black Swallowtails were feeding intently on the Compass Plant.

Eastern Tailed Blue next to pond

This Eastern Tailed Blue butterfly is the size of a nickel,  a common variety of blue butterflies, prone to congregating in groups along ponds & streams - exactly where we found them next to the pond.  These pictures Inge took are her color inspired
treasures.

This butterfly end table is a custom order. I used the butterfly design that Inge created for her "Accents".     I segmented the butterfly cut-outs and welded them into unique compositions on each side of the table. The steel framework is ground to a medium bright finish(raw steel) and then clear coated. The table top is Curly Maple wood dyed chartreuse with a two inch Black Walnut border.

added note:  I also made this table with the Curly Maple dyed orange, as seen on my website slideshow.
DIMENSIONS;  19"W x 19"L x 24"H

Inge & I walk amidst the ever changing scenery around us and create artful pieces to have in our homes.