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"Butterfly Weed"

“Butterfly Weed”

“Butterfly Weed”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Butterfly Weed in bloom was my excuse for driving around to Lobsterville to paint yet again. This area is one of the few rolling dune habitats which can be driven through. There is always some nice birding to do on the way as the dunes hold ponds and swamps between them as they slowly drain out into the West Basin marsh. Today was a Great Egret day with 5 adults and a juvenile fishing throughout the marsh…

"Menemsha Creek Fog"

“Menemsha Creek Fog”

“Menemsha Creek Fog”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Usually, I paint first and then, maybe, fish after. Today I was scouting near the Creek and found a fisherman below me in the water. Said he just had a large bass on, but it snapped his 12 lb. test line. That was all I needed to hear. It was too hot for waders, so I changed into my bathing trunks, grabbed my rod and jumped in. An hour later, my mind was drifting from fish to landscape and how beautiful it was down here with the fog in the distance trying to roll over all…

"Solstice Moon"

“Solstice Moon”

“Solstice Moon”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD

I motored to 3 different locations to capture the moon rising. I got my bearings mixed up and came here to sort it all out and paint this view instead. Never mind that there were heavy clouds along the east horizon, I soon realized I might be in “the spot” after all. I almost stopped before the moon peeked out. A fisherman suddenly appeared, walking up by the tree in the painting, holding a 34″ striped bass he had just that minute caught. I resisted temptation and kept painting, eventually fishing after dark. I returned home canvas full but fishless…

"Red Beach"

“Red Beach”

“Red Beach”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD

A beautiful sunny day found me closeted in my van while I did this painting. The wind had died and it was gorgeous out. Not a soul was on the beach, nor in the parking lot. I soon discovered why. The no-see-ums were the force to be reckoned with. They were under my hat, in my glasses, on my hands, in my ears, on my neck, all over me within moments of stepping out of the vehicle. Retreat was my only option…

"West Basin Fog"

“West Basin Fog”

“West Basin Fog”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD

Luckily there were no 15 to 30 mph winds today as there seemingly have been for the last few weeks. However, it absolutely poured rain. All day. Just before sunset, the radar showed it was gone. In its place was a wicked thick fog. Again. Even though the skies still looked like rain, I ventured out. I soon found myself headed back to Lobsterville and the West Basin in Aquinnah. I had no plan in mind, except that maybe I would catch dinner when finished painting. After circling around Captain Buddy Vanderhoop and his charter fishing boat, Tomahawk, on its trailer in the end parking lot, having some out of water work done to it, I backed into the visitor lot. I set up under my opened lift-gate, just in case the radar was wrong, at least I would have half my gear under cover. As it got gloomier with more fog shifting about, I could hear Captain Buddy maneuvering his rig into the launch shoot. As I, too, finished my task, I came to realize how wet it was on everything outside my van. Even my glasses had fogged up. I was lucky to see enough to paint. Driving back, I stopped by the 1st parking lot to fish, only to find 20 other fishermen already in place, waders on, slicker hoods up, casting into the gloaming. I soon enough joined them and slipped into their picket line of moving rods. I worked the water for an hour with a few hits on each of my 2 favorite lures, but they were all very small striped bass, schoolies as we call them. It was a nice cocoon like feeling standing 20 feet out in water up to my thighs. Surrounded by fog and near darkness, I could barely see the comrades on either side even when one had to switch on his headlamp to untangle his line or unhook a small fish. The rhythm of the undulating water was in itself mesmerizing in the muffled night. Slowly, the line thinned as each and every fisher-person realized we had been fooled, there were no big ones out there tonight.…

"Before Fog Lobsterville"

“Before Fog Lobsterville”

“Before Fog, Lobsterville”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Though it was in the 70’s midday, at the hour I painted this view I regretted having retired my hooded parka for the summer season. It is always 5 or 10 degrees cooler at ocean level in spring. Today was no different and a breeze amplified the coolness. The fog cloud moving in from the ocean side, to the left, kept getting thicker and wider as I worked, but never got to the west of me to block the sunset light. The two Killdeer I saw the last four times I was there were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they had fledged a brood and were busy playing follow the leader among the dunes…

"Changing Sitters"

“Changing Sitters”

“Changing Sitters”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD

I had thought about fishing for bluefish for dinner instead of painting, but the winds drove me to seek shelter. Down in this hollow, at the Tashmoo Waterworks spring, there is usually cover from a strong breeze, unless it is from the North. Today it was calm, and exciting. I had scouted here a week ago and knew the swans were on nest. What I didn’t know was the nest was full of hungry mouths to feed! They were quiet, yet were looking about for food. Probably just hatched out of their shells. Both parents stayed very close to the brood and afforded me ample time to paint them. A treat, to be sure…

"Squibnocket Point"

“Squibnocket Point”

“Squibnocket Point”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD

There have been recent sunny days, but not always into the late afternoon/evening. Created over multiple visits, this painting has been a slow finish. As the daylight lengthens and the ocean warms, the waters by the point will entice bass and bluefish close enough to catch for dinner…

"Ship To Shore"

“Ship To Shore”

“Ship to Shore”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD

This was out at Quansoo beach. The Tisbury Great Pond was so full of storm wash-over seawater, rain and snow runoff that the parking lot was almost totally submerged. The water to the left of the pond skiff was covering a parking area. The skiff was on top of the creek bank, not in the creek. And I was in my van out of the wind and with dry feet. In the near future, a bucket-loader will rumble down the beach to dig a trench from pond to sea. Pond water level will drop at least 2 or 3 feet and become tidal until the opening is closed again by the sea filling it with sand. It was last opened in January and stayed that way for most of a month…

"In The Cool Of Winter"

“In The Cool Of Winter”

“In The Cool Of Winter”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $750.00 USD

I was late scouting for a location to paint and got here at Cove Road just at sundown. With no more light on land and water reflecting sky, both water and sky were luminesce. Silhouettes began to form the land as color and detail receded…

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