From staff reports
Arcadia-based watercolorist/illustrator Emily Cook is the featured artist from mid-May through June at Yellow Dog Café, 4850 Main Street (M-22) in Onekama. Both her original works and prints will be available for sale.
Cook, a contributing writer for Freshwater Reporter and other area publications, said she has been creating two-dimensional imagery of the natural world for nearly as long as she can remember.
“With no television growing up and environmentalist parents, I was encouraged to be outdoors as much as possible,” she said.
Memories from her childhood, and experiences since, have provided the foundation for her work. Starting with crayon-drawn landscapes, and the occasional portrait of the family dog, she has since transitioned into her preferred medium of watercolor or gouache with ink accents.
Aside from a single semester of art school, Cook said she is a conservationist at heart. With more than 13 years as a natural resources professional ⸺ at organizations such as the Nature Conservancy, the National Park Service and various nonprofits ⸺ her work encompasses what she loves most about nature, especially nature in Michigan. She explained that much of her most recent work includes highlights of Arcadia’s landscapes. From spring trilliums in Pete’s Woods to sunrises over Lake Michigan, she finds endless inspiration for her work.
Primarily self-taught, her pieces utilize bright colors and almost fantasy-like elements. Though the finished works look quite different, she marks Vincent van Gogh as one of her favorite artists.
Shifting to the world of freelance in late 2022, Cook said she has enjoyed spending the last six months outside exploring even more places and using those images to create her next piece.
She can be reached at cookemilyk@gmail.com.
