I’m frequently asked how I choose my palette, subject matter and titling. Love the question, but struggle with the answer. It’s like being a writer, trying to answer how you choose the words you use, the settings you imagine, and the characters you develop. In that sense, my work is pure fiction. Based in reality, but reimagined along the way, to become something recognizable, but not real…and hopefully more interesting.
In this piece, the palette came along as it always does…by on-the-fly choices made with zero color theory in mind (I don’t like the concept of color theories). The scene was based on a real place, but modified to be what I wanted it to be. And the title comes from a marine park on Cape Cod I worked at as a dolphin trainer many years ago…whose name seemed to fit with the finished piece. All real, but all fiction. “Sealand” 16 x 20
The strip of small cottages that line Old Wharf Road in Dennisport, Cape Cod, and sit close to the shores of Nantucket Sound, are some of the last of the old humble summer places the Cape has always been known for. The simplicity and strength of their construction have allowed them to sit where they are, and survive storms, hurricanes, Nor’easters, and brutal winters. This little place maintains a safe distance from the sea by way of a small strip of dune that shifts, recedes, and expands each year. “Beach Dune” 36 x 36
