Coastal Skies Collection - Paintings Explore Virginia's Barrier Islands

Here’s Coastal Skies Collection on my studio wall.

Come with me on my journey exploring this little piece of heaven!

This Collection was so much fun to create! Inspired by sketches and photos from boat trips to the Barrier Islands. The Virginia Barrier Islands is a chain of narrow, low-lying sandy islands that run along the coast of the Eastern Shore, and is accessible only from the water.

From the salt breezes to the oyster reefs that dot the shores I explore using my camera. Photos and sketches serve as a reference point to begin my paintings. This landscape with it’s rich colors of marshlands, the Atlantic ocean, broad skies and numerous winding channels is an endless source of inspiration. I’m drawn to these islands, these landscapes because they seem other worldly and wild. Depending on the tides and winds often times they can be inaccessible, which fascinates me even more!

Creating the Coastal Skies Collection was an adventure. It gave me the chance to capture the untamed beauty of these wild and often times inaccessible places. I paint the essence of each landscape. When I work from a photograph I simply do not just copy it. I edit the scene, adding or removing elements that helps to enhance the composition and to make the painting stronger.

Can you catch the remembrance of the scent of windswept salt spray or a walk along coastal waters?I hope you have a beautiful adventure in viewing these paintings and experience a deep calm in every corner of your being. Enjoy!