The Marshes of Glynn

I had a magical morning a year ago. I was with Captain Lawrence Piper, fishing guide, who took me out in the early morning in very foggy conditions. As the fog lifted in the morning, a thunderstorm was forming over the marsh off in the distance. As the thunder rolled, the birds were completely unaffected, silent in the landscape.

Morning Sunrise, Jekyll Island, GA

I attended my 45th high school reunion on Jekyll Island in the fall of 2012 and thankfully one of my classmates captured this inspiring scene one morning.

Old wind blown oak trees on Jekyll and on the coast of Georgia are always accompanied by other trees around them and lean in mass to the prevailing winds over time. This poor tree was stripped of its friends when the dunes were leveled for a run down motel now on the site. It has become a sad reminder of man's lack of appreciation for and knowledge of the ecosystems of the coastal region.

The Shrimp Dock

Growing up on the coast of Georgia offered many opportunities for poking around docks. At the time Brunswick, GA was considered the Shrimp Capital of the World and over 600 shrimp boats were docked there. I'd often be in someone's boat passing the shrimp docks and see a scene like this one, a lonely skiff, often made by renowned Brunswick boat builder Oscar Harris, resting waiting for the tide to come in.

I'd like to acknowledge one of my favorite painters, Susan Renee Lammers for the inspiration of her paintings.

Fernandina Beach

This is my first completed oil painting and heck, if nothing else, I was proud I finished it. It's of the beach house we stayed for a week with our friends Robin, Michael and their pooch Libby. The log cabin beach house was a substitute, l must admit a rather less grand one, for the Grange on Cumberland Island. I'd painted one earlier oil with my distinguished painter friend Jack Hannula (President, Arts Club of Washington, DC) and he'd explained to me that the brush is at one end and the paint goes on the brush. 'But Jack' I said, 'how do you clean the brush'? His patience along with my other painter friend Chris Sherry have helped to free me up and understand oils a little.

Bad Dog Dock

Cumberland Island has a magical hold on me. After many years of visiting Cumberland Island at the Grange I've come to appreciate so much of the subtlety of the place. This painting of the Grange dock, lovingly referred to as the Bad Dog Dock, has been my place for reading, relaxation, and watching the weather, the fiddler crabs, the tide, alligators, beaching porpoises, seaplanes, nuclear submarines, mega yachts and horses grazing in the marsh. I've watched the marsh change colors over the seasons, and a horse die after becoming bogged in the marsh mud. I've seen raccoons, sharks, catfish, jellyfish, trout, stingrays, Pink Ibises, Great Blue Herons, Wood Storks, buzzards, white herons, green herons, possums, all with a cold beverage in my hand and friends gathered for the show. This painting is an ode to emptiness. The emptiness of the dock, never to see it's loving and many friends again.