Dawn on the Marsh, Essex

Dawn on the Marsh, Essex

Oil on canvas, 16x20, $380

The Wickford Outdoor Art Festival turned out to be wonderful for me on many levels.

For starters, many of my paintings sold. Eight or nine all together, I believe. They were bought by people who absolutely loved them. People who lost their hearts to the paintings. And I got to see that happen.

It's great to have the income, yes, indeed it is. I am, after all, on my way to supporting us by making and selling art. But in addition to the income, and far more meaningful and lasting, is the interaction with people, especially with the people who buy my paintings.

People at Wickford - buyers and lookers alike - seemed to go out of their way this time to share their feelings with me. The buyers, especially, did.

In that interaction, it seems, there is the very best of humanity. I love hearing their stories. I love hearing about their lives, and knowing that, in many ways, the paintings that I made have sparked their willingness to share - and often, these people are sharing very deep feelings, very intimate moments in their lives.

It enriches me, these interactions, and I hunger for them and thrive on them. And I am grateful.

The world headquarters of Jacobson Arts is in Gales Ferry, CT

Sunrise, Essex Marsh

Sunrise, Essex Marsh

Sunrise, Essex Marsh

Oil on canvas, 24x24

Please contact me for price and delivery options

I woke early on Saturday, the last day in Gloucester, and made this painting. A new friend, Alicia Drakiotes, painted with me, and we enjoyed the beautiful morning and each other's paintings.


Tired, filled with beauty and with painting, I headed home.


And once I walked in the door, I knew that my old girl's time had come.


With distance, with fresh eyes and with a heart full of love and sorrow, I saw that it was the end for Kaja, and that I had to make it happen. I walked into the house, saw her, burst into tears and called the vet.


Three hours later, she was gone.


I am sad beyond words. I am bereft. Kaja was smart, and she was noble, and she had a sense of humor. She was one of the great ones. She was nearly 15, and she guarded me, and loved me and cared for me unfailingly, every day of those 15 years.


I only wish that death had come and taken her here, in her sleep, in the home she loved. But her heart was too big and too strong for that.


This dog, who had run across the fields chasing deer, this dog who had hiked and ridden and gone swimming with me, this dog who had been the friend of my heart day in and day out, could barely walk. She could barely stand, or sleep or eat. She looked at me and I saw sadness in her eyes. I saw the end.


Her big heart touches mine still, and always will. And while I miss her, and will miss her every day for the rest of my life, I know that she is free from pain and from anxiety and from the body that let her down. I just hope that, in the reckoning, she will not think that it was me who let her down.

Jacobson Arts is in Gales Ferry, CT