Thunder Cove

Thunder Cove
Near Brackley, Prince Edward Island

By Carrie Jacobson

Dunes and Cliff

Watercolor on Arches paper, 12x18

By Heather MacLeod

Whenever Heather and I have encountered people on this trip, we've asked them to tell us a beautiful spot to paint. So when two people at the desk of The Pines, in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, told us the same place, on separate days, we figured we should find it.

It’s called Thunder Cove, and we are pretty sure that this is the place they described.

It’s a fairly long stretch of beautiful white sand that runs into steep red cliffs, with houses atop them. The sea is vast there, and the day we visited, it was a white blue that blurred at the horizon so it was hard to tell where the ocean ended and the sky began.

I talked with three sisters, ranging in age from 30s to 40s, I’d say, who were there with their mother, who told me she was 78. One of the sisters said she’d always wanted to visit Connecticut, a desire I found odd and fascinating. I grew up in Connecticut and we live there now, and while it’s a fine place, it’s not the sort of place I’d ever imagine anyone wanting to visit.

They were sitting together on the beach, laughing and talking and enjoying each other, and I found myself suddenly, truly, missing my mother.

Potato Fields

Potato Fields

Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Oil on canvas, 11x14

Call me at 860-442-0246 or email me

if you are interested in buying this painting

Tilled Red Soil

By Heather MacLeod

Watercolor on paper, 12x16

To get from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island, you drive across the Confederation Bridge. It is 8 miles long - the longest bridge in the world that crosses water that freezes solid.

It is a beautiful bridge, as those terrifying edifices go. It is tall and high, and it curves in the middle.

I drove, keeping close to the center line and determinedly not looking down.

As soon as we were safely on land, we were mesmerized. The island is gorgeous. Its soil is rich and red, and apparently rockless - there are no stone walls. Deeply furrowed fields alternate with fields of deepest emerald green. Rows of single evergreens, or of tall poplars (poplars?), line the fields, often standing gap-toothed at the horizon line.

We had driven all day, and as afternoon spun toward dusk, we wanted to paint. It hardly mattered where we pulled over - each curve in the road brought new splendor.

We could not have more different painting styles, Heather and me - but that's fine.