Cape Cod

Crow Farm

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A beautiful drive on Cape Cod and we came across a great farm stand. The forty-acre farm is run by Howard Crowell his son Paul, and grandson Jason.  In 2016, we will be celebrating their one-hundredth year of providing fresh produce and other local products to our community. It is one of the only farms on Cape Cod to grow apples (15 unique varieties!), pears, peaches, and sweet corn, locally known as “Crow Farm Corn.”  In 1916, David and Lincoln Crowell purchased forty acres of farmland and began a family tradition that has continued into the next century.  The current farm stand opened on Route 6A in 1960. Lamy Safari fountain pen with Noodler’s black ink and Pelikan watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2015-10-3 Crow Farm

Cranberries

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Cranberries are low, creeping vines up to 7 feet long and 2 to 8 inches in height; they have slender, wiry stems that are not thickly woody and have small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink. They are pollinated by bees. The fruit is a berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant; it is initially white, but turns a deep red when fully ripe. It is edible, with an acidic taste that can overwhelm its sweetness. Most cranberries are processed into products such as juice, sauce, jam, and sweetened dried cranberries, with the remainder sold fresh to consumers. Cranberry sauce is a traditional accompaniment to turkey at Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom and Thanksgiving dinners in the United States and Canada. Lamy fountain pen with Noodler’s Black Ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2015-10-02 Cranberries

Highland Bog

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Fall in New England is almost all about the fall colors which are spectacular. The trees are just starting to turn here in southern New England as you can see in my sketch. The fall is also cranberry season in New England. This sketch of a cranberry bog near our house shows another vibrant color of the fall. This bog is being wet picked, which means that the bog is flooded with water and the berries are dislodged from the vines and float to the surface. The wind usually pushes them to one end of the bog where the berries are corralled and sucked up into waiting trucks. This method of picking can only be used for juices in that the berries get water logged and cannot be used as fresh fruit. A beautiful site as you travel around this area and see the flooded bogs with the vibrant pink-burgundy berries floating. Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Alpha series sketchbook.

2015-10-01 Highland Bog

Falmouth Harbor

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A beautiful early fall day on Cape Cod. While Lisa was walking along Falmouth Heights, I sat on the seawall and enjoyed the view of the entrance to Falmouth Harbor. The sun was very bright and created a silhouette of the jetties that form the mouth of the harbor entry. Pelikan watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.

2015-09-27 Falmouth Harbor

Take Time to Sit by the Sea

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It was a foggy and overcast this morning, but it always does the soul good to be near the ocean. “Take Time to Sit by the Sea” is a quote on a bench overlooking the harbor in Onset, Massachusetts. It is always relaxing and special to be near the ocean. Faber-Castell Pitt black pens with Pelikan watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.

2015-09-19 Onset Harbor

Nantucket Harbor

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Nantucket is 26 miles at sea, a tiny spit of sand off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with the Atlantic Ocean and Nantucket Sound defining its borders.  Just under 15 miles long and three and a half miles wide, much of life on the island is defined by the waters that surround it.
It is a place, wrote Herman Melville in his classic novel “Moby Dick,” made an utter island by the ocean, that to the very chairs and tables small clams will sometimes be found adhering, as if to the backs of sea turtles. But these extravaganzas only show that Nantucket is no Illinois.” A century after Melville penned his tale of madness and whaling, Nantucket is still unlike anywhere else. Maybe it is a history so seeped into the very soil that one cannot help but come in contact with it. Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2015-09-15 Nantuket Harbor

Great Point Lighthouse

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Great Point Light, officially, Nantucket Light is a lighthouse located on the northernmost point of Nantucket Island. First built in 1784, the original wooden tower was destroyed by fire in 1816. The following year a stone tower was erected which stood until toppled in a storm in March 1984. Rebuilt again in 1986, the stone tower was built to replicate the old one, and still remains in operation today. Modern additions include solar panels to recharge the light’s batteries, and a sheet pile foundation and 5-foot thick concrete mat to help withstand erosion. Faber-Castell Pitt pen with Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2015-09-14 Great Point Light

Window Boxes

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One last one from our brief Nantucket get away. This was a quick 30 minute sketch. The window boxes are gorgeous and everywhere on the island. Everyone is so different from the next one. Bright colors, a multitude of species and many different greens. The flower boxes are even more amazing in the springtime when they are planted with colorful bulbs and greens that seem even more vibrant after a New England winter. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors in a 8″ x 12″ Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.

2015-09-13 Nantucket window box

Quickies

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Another couple of quick value studies from Nantucket. As a challenge to try to be quicker and looser. I made a limit of 12-15 minutes for each of these sketches. They are still pretty tight, but there is a looseness to them. The top one is a view from the ferry terminal looking back at a couple of cottages on the piers over the water. The second is of a marina building that had a garage shop with large doors on the front and rear that opened to the view and harbor just outside the doors. Pilot Namiki Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s black ink in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2015-09-12 Quickies

From the Bean

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Another early morning sketch. It poured rain last night so there is nowhere outside to sit and sketch where it is dry. This is the view from The Bean coffee shop. I sat at the window counter and sketched the view across India Street. Classic New England Architecture is everywhere in this town and on the island. We leave later today and it has been a fantastic trip. Faber-Castell Pitt pens with Holbein watercolors in an Alpha Series Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2015-09-11 From the Bean