Living in coastal New England, particularly on the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard, you become well acquainted with yearly changes to the shoreline, and the distance land is from sea. Storms, waves, rain and time all descend on the fragile edges of land, where they turn to beach. The result is, more often than not…erosion and/or shifting dunes. You don’t notice it as much in areas where there is nothing built…but in those areas where seaside homes have resided for years, the structure shows just how much, or little, land has been lost since the previous year. This location is on Cape Cod Bay, and while on the “protected” side of the Cape (the side not facing the Atlantic), some of the most significant sand drifts and dune erosion occurs. “Bluff” 36 x 36
There’s nothing like the clear, unobstructed light you see in the countryside. No buildings, smog, or other obstacles for it to navigagte around as it illuminates things…especially at higher altitudes, where the atmosphere is a thinner, and even more so in early morning, or late afternoon. “Country Light” 20 x 12 o/c
Our town works hard to maintain it’s rural quality. Nearly every road is lined by stone walls, and paved to accommodate modern life. Wherever possible, preservation efforts have kept several roads unpaved. The selection of certain roads to remain unpaved seems random. The town maintains a “Gravel Road Map”, and every few years it’s updated, as this road or that succumbs to the inevitable asphalting, as new homes are built, and quaint loses out to practicality and convenience. There are two such unpaved roads not far from our house, and when you drive down them, you instantly feel a sense of being back in time, and then just as abruptly, the dirt road ends, and you’re back in the present. “Rural Road” 16 x 16 o/c.
The small fishing village of Menemsha, on Martha’s Vineyard, is one of the most well preserved, quaint villages you’ll find in New England. Sitting tucked in a small harbor, accessed via a dredged channel that enters from Vineyard Sound, and overlooking the Elizabeth Islands (Gosnold), the small weathered cottages and boat houses look much the same as they have for decades. This view is facing north, coming from the Coast Guard Station Menemsha. “Island Harbor” 24 x 30 o/c
The beaches on the Bay side of Dennis (Cape Cod, MA) are known for their sandbars and low tides, which can be in place close to a quarter mile from dry sand to the low tide water line. As the tide recedes, shallow areas in the sandbar are the last to drain, and as the surrounding exposed sand dries, small streams drain away from the beach, and catch the skylight, creating beautiful abstract shapes. This location, at Corporation Beach in East Dennis, not only creates low tide streams, but has in places fresh water springs below the sand, which are marked by small circles of bubbling sand, creating a continues stream, long after the sea has fully receded. “Tide Stream” 20 x 16
This old farmhouse is about a mile from the studio. The road curves past it, and cuts through woods and meadows, as well as a few homes built in what was until a few years ago, forest. The owners of this farm own about 150 acres of beautiful hilly woodlands, bisected by a historically preserved dirt road that connects one end of town to the other. I recently learned that those 150 acres are to be developed into neighborhoods. I was informed of this by the owner of the mill I use to build my frames. I asked him what he thought the likelihood is that that development plan will go through. He replied, “that one may not go through, but there WILL be houses on that land someday.” Development is inevitable, unless land is bought for preservation, as other parcels in town have been. I balance wishing this type of land use wasn’t inevitable, with understanding it (my own house was built on an old sheep meadow of my neighbor’s farm.) “The Last Farm” 60 x 48 o/c
The light just after sunrise, especially along open shores and beaches, casts everything in warm and cool colors…warmth where the light hits, cool where it doesn’t. This cluster of cottages in Dennisport catches the morning sun, while the less illuminated beach reflects the ambient light, painting the sand between the tidelines in warm and cool shades of color. “Tidelines” 36 x 24
I’ve made the observation before that light at higher elevations seems unique. Similar to the light along shorelines, it seems brighter, crisper and is likely due (in both cases) with the lack of trees and other natural and man-made things around to cast shadows and filter the light. This piece attempts to capture the light’s purity in such places. “Northern Highland” 70 x 34
There’s a section of the Cape, between Eastham and Wellfleet, where the sea creeps inland from the Bay, working its way along channels that cut through the boggy marshes. They’re remarkable creations, with the water carving out small islands of seagrass and marsh mud. This particular place is in Wellfleet, at the eastern end of Blackfish Creek. “Marshlands” 52 x 36
