“Woods Hole”, this is a small painting, 6″ x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I had three location choices for this painting. One required a long walk through woods and maybe snow drifts to arrive at a long beach walk. Two was a short beach walk. Three was possibly traveling down an un-snow-plowed lane and a walk down 5 or 6 stories of beach stairs. I attempted #3 first. The lane was plowed as was the parking lot. Snow on the stairs was almost non existent. I dallied on top taking scouting photos and checking for wind and temperature. Deciding on full winter attire, I returned to my van to gear up. I grabbed the rest of my coffee, a chocolate bite and container of mixed nuts to fuel my furnace as I painted. I descended down the stairs, stopping at each landing for more precision photos of potential views. The last landing was a killer. I was trapped 20 feet above the beach. Winter storms had left only steep, weeping-wet clay between me and the sands below where once was the bottom most set of stairs. I had stepped in clay like that before. Not only is it slippery on an incline, but it sticks to everything it touches like honey, in a bad sort of way. On the beach directly beneath were more boulders at the waters edge casting great, long, blue shadows from the waning sun. I just couldn’t reach them. As I worked, the sun set and lights across the way in Woods Hole slowly flickered on. They were soon followed by the lights of the evening ferryboat chugging into its homeport…