Tim Fortune explores the natural world with delicacy combined with a hungry appreciation for the minor miracles we walk past every day. His work astonishes the senses with its simplicity and grace, and offers up a feeling of awe that resonates long past your first peek into Fortune’s world, splayed out in glorious, wall-sized watercolors.

His upcoming one-man show at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts (LPCA) at 17 Algonquin Drive in Lake Placid, “Watercolor Encounters” opens on Friday, August 12th with an artist’s reception from 5-7PM. The show, which continues there until September 17th, includes more than a dozen of the large scale watercolors―along with another 20 midsized works―that reflect a uniquely gentle view of the natural world, Fortune style.

These days, Fortune works almost exclusively in watercolor, painting the simple elements of life on a scale that defies you to try to walk past it without having to stop and stare. Using a delicate and refined approach, he turns an analytical eye on the finest details, exposing the complexity of even simple subjects like rocks under water with tremendous skill. “I like the idea of fractals,” he says, “of breaking up nature, almost like a puzzle.” His studies include wild roses, impressions of tree branches in winter, leaves in fall, and several of his marvelous examinations of water in motion. His Adirondack vantage points are uniquely personal and beautiful.

It’s been many years since Fortune has mounted a solo show of this magnitude, and the combined impact of so many of his ingenious large works is a rare treat. For more information, go to the LPCA website, or visit the Fortune Studio at 76 Main Street in Saranac Lake, NY.

Photo: Top, Green Frog; Below, Fallen Pine both by Tim Fortune.

Linda J. Peckel explores the Adirondacks by following the arts wherever they take her. Her general art/writing/film/photography musings on can be found at her own blog Arts Enclave.