Rosemary and I spend time at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, near the state park, a beautiful stretch of sand and sea on the short coastline of N.H. In the 1930s, her mother’s parents bought two cottages close to the ocean on a parcel of land on Boston Avenue. The front cottage, the Pinehurst, more like a house (4 bedrooms upstairs), burned around 1960 and was rebuilt. The back cottage was damaged but not destroyed. It’s called the Sadie B. (3 small bedrooms). We rent to tourists in the summer, but there are weeks in the spring and early fall when we can go there. The water is turned off in mid-October because neither cottage is winterized. There have been times when I’ve taken a watercolor paint set and colored pencils to make pictures during a stay. I’ve made pictures since I was a kid, no doubt influenced by my older brother Richard who graduated from Massachusetts College of Art in the early 1960s. As part of my university studies in Lowell, Mass., I took a watercolor course with a prominent New England painter, Carlton Plummer, who lived in the area and had a studio on the Maine coast. One of his go-to instructions was “Think like a turtle and paint like a rabbit.” A watercolor painting must feel fresh and not overworked. He also took pleasure in “happy accidents” that occur when pigment meets wet paper. The pictures that follow date from 20 years ago. I don’t draw well, but I enjoy playing with the colors and trying to capture scenes and objects. These are done on sketchbook pages not loose sheets, the size being 11 x 14.
Deep-Sea Fishing Boats Loading Up, Hampton Harbor, N.H., watercolor, 1999
At Rest, Hampton Beach, N.H., watercolor, 1999
“Ellen Dane” at Hampton Harbor, N.H., watercolor, 2000
Underwood Drawbridge/Rte. 1, Hampton River, Hampton Beach, N.H., watercolor, 1999