Saturday, June 19, 2010

On Miscou Island

On Miscou Island
New Brunswick
Oil on canvas, 10x20

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if you are interested in buying this painting



Miscou Island Church
By Heather MacLeod
Watercolor on paper, 12x16

Miscou Island is a skinny arm that sticks out of New Brunswick into the Atlantic. It is like the end of the earth. The sky is huge. The sea is huge. The wind blows the grass in waves, and there is no noise but for the world itself, blowing and spinning and turning, and crashing in on the beach.

I painted this abandoned barn, tucked into a curve of a dune. Behind me, Heather painted this church, which one man built alone about 100 years ago, walking to the site every day from his home, miles away.

I hoped, this trip, that I'd find lots of sky, and water, and the thin, round light that comes at the edge of the sea on the best of days - and on this day, in this place, I did. It was a real toss-up, whether to paint the barn or the church, and I am glad we have paintings of both.

Thank you for reading.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The thin, round light that comes at the edge of the sea... You threw those words in there so easily, and they are SO beautiful! Like a poem. You've made me stop and think about how the light is so different in different places, but now that you mention it... that's what makes a farm scene different from a beach scene, etc. Your paintings are wonderful! I love your style.

carrie jacobson said...

Oh, thank you, Katherine. Part of it is that while I am standing there painting, I think my brain works to understand why I am liking what I see - often it is the light, and I have noticed that it's not only the light itself, but what it shines on, and reflects off of, that makes it different.

A couple years ago, I drove to Wyoming and back, painting, on the first of these trips. I had decided to drive out without stopping to paint, and to note places that looked good, and paint there on my way back.

The light near Sandusky, Ohio, on the way out was so gorgeous that I almost stopped to paint - but it was just the start of the trip, and so I pushed on. And when I returned, the light was the same. That's what really got me thinking about light, and why it is so different and so special in some places.

It's the same sun shining down on us, so it must be what it shines on, and what it shines through...