Fort Monckton Light

I guess you could call this part of my lighthouse series, but it can also be part of my Canadian series. This is from a reference photo I took up near our family summer home in Port Elgin, New Brunswick. It is part of the Fort Gaspareaux National Historic Site and is a small little park overlooking Baie Verte, which is a small arm of the Northumberland Strait.

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

My subject line is the title of a children's book written in 1942 about the Jeffrey's Hook Light, a small red lighthouse at the foot of the massive George Washington Bridge.

Although I've lived in New Jersey most of my life I never even knew about this little lighthouse until five years ago, when I happened to go with my sister and brother-in-law and their kids to the park that runs along the Palisades near the bridge. There I saw the Little Red Lighthouse for the first time, and thought both how cute and incongruous it looked.

Then, when I was trying to think of another lighthouse to paint for my series that will be in the art show next month, I thought of it. My time is short. I had no time to go down to the Jersey shore and capture photos of Twin Lights, or Barnegat Light, or any other NJ shore lighthouses, but I figured I had time to drive up to the bridge and get a photo of the little light to use as a painting reference.

So that's what I did yesterday morning before the Pastel Society of New Jersey's spring meeting. I drove north along the river, following the road that takes you underneath the GW Bridge, and stopped at a couple spots along the way to take photos of the lighthouse. I finally chose one for a reference, and painted this morning while I was on call for an upgrade at work.

That's it. I now have five lighthouse paintings that can go in the show - but I have more lighthouses I want to paint now that I've gotten the lighthouse bug. :-)

Sandy Hook Light

I had fun doing the Hog Island Light last week, even if from a distance. And I have always been fascinated by lighthouses. Two weeks ago I was down at New Jersey's Sandy Hook, and took several photos of the lighthouse there. Since I had lighthouses on my mind I decided I wanted to use one of them as a reference also.

Lighthouses are pretty popular, and maybe I can do a lighthouse series. Actually I realize I've already done a few counting the small Hog Island Light from last week. I've also done Maine's West Quoddy Head Light, and the light at Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick. That's four already - I've already almost got a series going here. I wish I had another lighthouse I could do. I'll have to look through my old photos. I may have one somewhere of the light at NC's Cape Lookout, or I could always go down to the Jersey shore to get some reference photos of "Old Barney" or Barnegat Light.

My Hog Island Light painting is the post immediate prior to this one of course. To see my other lighthouse paintings please go here and here.

Hog Island Light

This is another painting from my March trip to the Bahamas. I guess I managed to get enough paintable subjects to be able to call it a "series" now, LOL. This is the lighthouse on Paradise Island at the entrance to Nassau harbor. Paradise Island used to be known as Hog Island, but I guess it acquired a new and more appealing name when big tourist resorts were built on the island. :-)

You can read about the lighthouse here. It says there about it: "This is the oldest and best known lighthouse in the Bahamas and the oldest surviving lighthouse in the West Indies." and also: "Good view from cruise ships entering the harbor." This is true too, as my first view of the light was from the cruise ship. In fact I have another photo of it that I took from the ship which I may also try to turn into a painting.