“Ashburton Head”

Ashburton Head has a wonderful though tragic history on Grand Manan Island. It is a regal cliff of solid granite that rises almost 400 feet from the surf to its highest point and is sculpted with crevices and pits that give it an almost elephantine flesh-like quality. But below the water at its foot are hazardous rocks that caused the sinking of the Lord Ashburton in the early 19^th century. All 21 of its crew lost their lives after a storm pushed the bark unavoidably toward the cliffs. Ships have been crashing onto Grand Manan’s rocky coast since the 16^th century. 

“Castalia Marsh”

Castalia Marsh is a surprising natural element in the middle of the island between Southwest Head and Grand Harbor. It has all the enticing characteristics of winding grassy surfaces intermixed with water that reflects the infinite moods of the sky and clouds and yet it is surrounded on all sides by jagged rocks, fishing villages and granite promontories. In a way it is a unique feature of the island and quite charming.

“Sunrise, Hetherington’s Cove” SOLD

Hetheringtons’ Cove, today known by locals as Harrington’s Cove lies on the southern part of the island. While visiting Grand Manan in both 2002 and 2004, I would rise early in the morning, before sunrise, drive to the southern part of the island and would often feel myself drawn to this beautiful little cove. It was a spot where the fresh water streams that originated in the center of the island emptied into the Bay of Fundy. One morning, there were some thin clouds covering the dawn sky and rays of light were streaming through just at the moment that I chose to stop and pay respect. I felt for an instant that I was witnessing the creation of the world all over again.

“Castalia Marsh Baseball Field and Grand Harbor” (Also known as “Hetherington’s Cove”. A mistake on my part) SOLD

This gorgeous, curving little cove is at the southern end of Castalia Marsh. Its sweeping shoreline always captured my sense of beauty and I often stopped at the side of the road to admire its grace and serenity.

“North Head from the South”

North Head has some of the most dramatic scenery and natural rock formations on Grand Manan Island. This scene shows my route around The Head on a small fishing boat. It expresses an intimate and intensely emotional impression of the cliffs and rocks that almost seemed to beckon to me as I passed by them in the slow rhythmic rocking aboard the little fishing vessel.

“North Head from the North”

A companion piece to “North Head from the South”, this drawing shows the same cliffs after we had gone by, only now I was looking at it from the top of the island rather than from a southerly approach.

“Red Point Road in the Fog”

Fog is a constant threat on Grand Manan Island. It isn’t always there, but when it descends upon the place, it feels as if it is there forever. It can be frustrating but also hauntingly beautiful. For more than a week, the island was simply buried in an impenetrable blanket of opaque grey fog and one day, as I went about on my daily jaunts, I returned to my cottage only to see these houses emerging from the fog that had absolutely covered them so that only a few minutes earlier they were completely invisible. This drawing is my very first attempt to “draw” the effects of fog. It was quite a challenge to reproduce the proper and persuasive effects of this elusive climatic condition.

“Rocks, Seal Cove”

Grand Manan Island lies in the mouth of the Bay of Fundy between Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The bay boasts the highest tides on the planet. At Grand Manan, like clock work, the tide rises 25-30 feet every six hours. At high tide, everything on the shore is underwater, but at low tide, particularly at Seal Cove, on the southern end of the island, the tide reveals about 200 yards of kelp covered rocks. The rock that plays the major role in this drawing is invisible during high tide and magnificent when the water recedes during its regular six-hour cycle, revealing an organic-like, hairy looking prone, sleeping monster.

“Sunset, Red Point Road”

Sunset in an oil painting is something dramatic and powerful because of the color, but it was a real challenge to draw basically a silhouette of forms that captured the feeling of the sun just having disappeared below the horizon in this composition.

“The Bishop”

The Bishop, ah, the Bishop. This majestic, inspiring piece of nature’s sculpture, was one of the main reasons I wanted to visit Grand Manan Island in the first place. I was familiar with it through paintings and engravings that appeared in 19^th-century journal articles, so I decided that, given the opportunity, I wanted to go discover it for myself. It has such personality; such character. From every angle it looks different. It stands out from its surroundings, whether you are miles away from it or within touching distance. The emotions I felt while creating this drawing were even more intense when I created the oil painting in color, because it captured a completely different aspect of this incredible piece of rock.

Click here for Color Paintings of this series