Wade Ridley

Wade Ridley paints from Marquette, Michigan, on the south shore of Lake Superior. Before he picked up a brush full time, he ran a grain elevator. In his first week he jammed the leg solid with wheat and spent an afternoon up top with a shovel while the crew ate lunch in the parking lot and watched. That job taught him patience, how to fix his own mistakes in plain view, and respect for heavy, moving material. He later took graphic design courses at Northern Michigan University and sharpened his hand in watercolor workshops. He says painting has been easier on his pride, because when a wash goes wrong now, the only one watching is the lake.

Wade works in watercolor on cold-press paper, letting the textured surface catch pigment and break the light the way wind breaks open water. His painterly style favors loose washes, soft edges, and the changeable moods of the Upper Peninsula: big skies, cold shorelines, and weather rolling in off the lake. On canvas, his pieces bring a calm, airy feel to living rooms, bedrooms, and reading nooks, and they work especially well in lake cabins and cottages or anywhere that could use a window onto open water. Below are Ridley’s canvases in our shop, ready to hang.