Cut River

Ever since the Pilgrims settled in Plymouth and subsequently, Marshfield, there have been efforts to improve inland connectivity between Plymouth, Duxbury Bay, and Scituate.   In 1633, a canal was dug to better connect the Marshfield Rivers (Green Harbor River, North River, and South River) to the bay. In 1636, this canal was widened and deepened per order of the court. In 1806, a group of Marshfield landowners successfully petitioned the court for permission to dig a more direct canal from Green Harbor to Duxbury Bay. Known today as the Cut River, this canal flowed through the marshes and meadows behind Green Harbor Beach, and out to sea near present-day Canal Street on the Duxbury line.  In fact the Cut River is believed by some to be the oldest man-made canal in North America.  As impressive as this claim is, perhaps conjuring up a vision of grandeur, the opposite is true. The actual canal and bridge are quite small.   

On a mild afternoon recently I set up facing west at the end of Avon Street, providing a perfect meadow level view of the small bridge over the Cut River.   Since it is still Spring, the visible marsh grasses are last year's dried straw.  Colors are generally washed out. I brightened up the color in the foreground, which was not true to the scene.  The real scene was pretty darn drab.  

Still to be added are the tall telephone poles and wires, that run parallel to the bridge.   I believe I will also add some vertical straw in the foreground.  

I was imagining the history behind this waterway just a few hundred feet from where I live, and thinking, I am so lucky to live here.

Seagulls Squabbling at Driftway

View of Easel and Scene at Herring River

I cannot remember a finer stretch of New England weather than this year, 2012 A.D..   We had another great day to paint outside so our destination is the Herring River which borders the Driftway in Scituate.  It was mid-morning and a little over an hour until high tide so we needed to keep a watchful eye on the water level.   We set up right next to the water's edge, close enough to enjoy a nice low vantage point, close enough to hear the gentle ripples, and frankly, close enough to call this day perfection.


Standing at my easel, my view was just as shown in the first photo.   Misrepresented in this photo are the blues.  The photo shows a drastic difference in the blues between the painting and the actual scene...a translation problem prevalent in photos.   When comparing the color of the sky in the second photo to the actual scene, they look much closer to each other and to reality.

Get Off My Blasted Ballast
or
Find Your Own Piling

At the end of our paint-out, my painting consisted of sky, water, distant shore and the foreground pilings.   I had wanted to include a seagull sitting atop the tallest piling, but there were no gulls around.      I happen to love the quirky nature of seagulls.   At home, I found an old photo of one gull screaming at another about which one should get to sit on the perfect piling.  I added them to this painting, and from the looks of this, I need to re-draw them to correct the wings of the airborne gull and to better accentuate the beaks, eyes and legs of both.   The title is not decided yet.