stillman and birn

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

Boat House and Grennan Bearit

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Another beautiful morning on Nantucket. Up early just after sunrise for this sketch as the fog was lifting. The Boat House and Grennan Bearit are 2 rental cottages on North Wharf on the Nantucket Boat Basin. Nantucket is so a quintessential New England with all of the cottages and buildings in grey weathered shingle buildings with white trim right on the water. I sketched this Plein Air and added the color later due to the 100% humidity and I knew the watercolor would never dry. Holbein watercolors with black fine pens in a Alpha Series Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2015-09-10 North Wharf Nantucket

White Hibiscus

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Another variety of Hardy Hibiscus or Swamp Rose. This color combination seems to be blooming now, a little later in the season than the red variety that I painted a little while back. This flower is all white with a purple center and yellow Stamen. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Alpha Sketchbook.

2015-09-07 White Hibiscus

Plymouth Rock Memorial

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The real Plymouth Rock was a boulder about fifteen feet long and three feet wide which lay with its point to the east, thus forming a convenient pier for boats to land during certain hours of tide. In 1920, the rock was found and the waterfront rebuilt to a design by noted landscape architect Arthur Ahcrcliff, with a waterfront promenade behind a low seawall, in such a way that when the rock was returned to its original site, it would be at water level. The care of the rock was turned over to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a new very sober Roman Doric Portico designed by McKim, Mead and White for viewing the tide-washed rock protected by gratings. Faber-Castell Pitt black pens in a 9″ x 12″ Stillman and Birn Alpha Sketchbook.

2015-09-06 Plymouth Rock Memorial

The Mayflower

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The Mayflower was the ship that transported English Separatists, known today as the Pilgrims from Plymouth in England to the New World.  There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about thirty, but the exact number is unknown. This voyage has become an iconic story in some of the earliest annals of American History, with its story of death and of survival in the harsh New England winter environment. The culmination of the voyage in the signing of the Mayflower Compact was an event which established a rudimentary form of democracy, with each member contributing to the welfare of the community. The Mayflower stopped in what is now Provincetown and First Encounter Beach in Eastham prior to landing in what is now Plymouth, MA. This is actually a fully working replica of the original vessel in Plymouth Harbor. Ink with Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Sketchbook.

2015-09-05 Mayflower