Artist’s Nantucket
September on Nantucket is a perfect time to create fine art, read a novel, swim at Ionis Beach, explore the island heathlands, enjoy a lobster roll for dinner, or stroll through the village people watching.
Nantucket Island School of Design provided me an Artist Residence for the month of September 2015, following a Spring adventure in Tuscany, Italy. The Nantucket residence included a fine cottage residence on the Harbor and work space at a barn on Wauwnet Road, ten miles away, in the outback.
Barbara, Miah, and I arrived on the 1st of September, overwhelmed by the beauty of the place. Tourist/Summer season winds down but Nantucket is still quite lively. We set off by car and explored the various beaches available for swimming, and small villages occupying the opposite ends of the island with beautiful homes in Quidnet, Madaket, and Sconset.
Soon left to my own devices I proceeded to paint plain air abstract paintings daily on a porch at the barn below two old silos. My grandfather’s farm in Ohio had similar silos so I was quite at home in this environs. A blazing star horse corralled close by kept me company, he grudgingly receiving carrots and apples.
Matt arrived for a three day stay mid month, all ready to see the sights. We set out one morning from Wauwinet bound for Great Point Lighthouse to discover soft sand, heat, and a 20 mile round trip that quickly changed our plans. Happily we retreated to photograph Sankaty Head Light and Low Beach.
Abundant sunny weather provided the opportunity to create eleven works of art 6’x6’, influenced by the sandy, dominant landscape with its low hills, hidden forests, freshwater ponds, windswept cranberry bogs, and spectacular ocean views all round
Over the course of the month, 3000 photos accumulated, recording the architecture and environs of that sand pile in the middle of the ocean, two hours by ferry from Hyannisport.
The late Summer days ticked by ever so slowly, slowly, painting, painting, painting, the best abstract canvases occurring naturally during this sun drenched outdoor experience, influenced by the total environment.
A full eclipse of the blood red moon occurred September 27, providing a rather fitting closure to our great Nantucket adventure.