NOT ENTIRELY VISIBLE: Nantucket Work

This week has been been a busy one, as I prepare some new work to take up to East End Gallery in Nantucket. Each August I bring home some which have not sold, and hand off some new work to the gallery owner. I can't say I sell a lot up there, because she only does solo shows for Nantucket residents, and these shows take up most of the space in the small gallery during the summer. But she shows my work in the spring, early summer and fall into December, and I have made some nice sales during those times.

Besides the "Shallowing Waves" painting in my last post, and "In the Language of Blue and Gold" which can be seen in the right hand sidebar of this blog, I will be taking up an addition to my successful "Water's Edge series:


"Water's Edge # 10" oil on clayboard 10" x 10"

"Blue Shore of Silence"

and above, which I did earlier this summer and posted in the blog I believe.

And this new one, "Storm Abating" which is not quite as free form as "Shallowing Waves," but hopefully presents a mood and a feeling.

"Storm Abating" oil on canvas 20" x 20"

I look forward to arriving on the island for a 10 day vacation with our son and his family. There’s a reason families summer in Nantucket generation after generation: There is a sense of history, of the unchanged there in the villages and outlying roads, because after the whaling industry, which made Nantucket so affluent, tanked in the mid 1800's when oil was discovered in Pennsylvania, no one could afford to build or rebuild for over 100 years, leaving Nantucket Island and its delightful cottages and buildings and cobble-stoned thoroughfare much as it was. (This is in spite of the continued growth of abundant and wonderful, albeit expensive, restaurants, shopping, and art galleries in recent decades.)

Ocean and bay are wonderfully swimmable, thanks to the Gulf Stream, and the open beaches, some of the most beautiful in the world, are varied and available to all --- all who can afford to be there that is. You can tell that my only negative about this magical place is the sense of entitlement about it --- it is not a place where you can own or even rent a house without money. There may be a few too many docksiders, Vineyard Vines clothing, whale pants and dyed-in-the-wool Republicans for my sensibilities, but given all the natural beauty, it is easy to ignore. I can be a hypocrite for a few weeks in order to enjoy beauty and relaxation!

"Squantum House"

My son found a wonderful old true grey-shingled BEACH house (not winterized, not yuppified) about 10 years ago to rent. Everyone would not love it, because of the small, old kitchen, ancient (but I think charming!) bathrooms, time scarred natural wood wainscotted walls, and simple furnishings. It is a house where a family raised six kids, located out on Wauwinet Road where there are very few houses, very few folks on the beach, and situated right on the ocean with bay views to the other side. My family all love it, because of its location and because the house is perfect for kids, (my grandkids think of it as a second home.) Because of our Italy extravaganza in June, they are only going for 2 weeks this year, (but logged into more next year I believe) and John and I will be there for 10 days of it. (Not because, I suspect, they are dying to spend another vacation with the grandparents, but because you have to split the cost of the house: otherwise it becomes undo-able!) My daughter-in-law's parents and brother and family rent another house just down the road for one of the weeks, which makes it even more fun.

I look forward to doing some water aerobics in the ocean, communing with seagulls and my son, daughter-in-law and grandkids on the beach, sunsets over the bay on the deck, endless games of Monopoly, seafood feasts cooked on the beach, some good beach reading ... all of which makes for a perfect vacation.