Sound to the Sea ~ in memory
08 October 2018 | Emerald Isle and Fort Macon, Bogue Banks, NC
capt.suzan wallace | Overcast but warm
It was a day of remembrance. It was last year at the Sound-to-Sea plein air event that I lost him. Feeling helpless so many miles from home when he needed me. Thankful I was the last family voice he heard as the ambulance paramedic said they had to go~
That weekend I had set up under the bridge to Emerald Isle with my easel in about knee deep tide, in the marsh grass. As I focused my attention on the ICW passage under the bridge, I witnessed many 'snow-birds' on their way south. I kept thinking about how the ARIES would have come under that bridge back in 1983. It is an odd sensation to be in a place where something happened at a different time period. But the idea kept my attention all day as I painted that bridge over the ICW. Little did I know that later, it would be my last time to call Dad from out in the field~
So this year, I had to paint the images that recurred in my mind as subject drawing me in. The first would be a bird's eye view of the SPARROW from an observation deck. And the second would be sitting on the hill just off Fort Macon at Beaufort Inlet. Both places I visited felt exciting to me visually. I really enjoyed sitting on top of the hill at Fort Macon with my watercolors. I was able to tape out an elongated paper that would allow me to capture the extent of the inlet and Shackleford banks in the distance. I had the vision in my mind for some time and even purchased a special 'marine' frame that would fit perfectly. Had some visitors come by to see what I was painting as well~a
After a great day of plein air painting, something was still heavy on my heart! I was still struggling with my grief and I knew I needed to do something with it to remember him always. So I pulled out the Emerald Isle ICW bridge painting from last year and I painted into the scene, the ARIES under full sail coming through. It felt right to do so and so I asked special permission from the S-to-S host if it was okay to display the painting again this year with the addition.
I not only SOLD my Beaufort Inlet watercolor painting but I won one of the awards given by the hosts. I will always hang my remembrance in my home that is a constant reminder of so many things my parents were to me~