"Grand Manan V"

With the ferry "Grand Manan V" resuming summer duties starting tomorrow, this seems like a good time to introduce my painting of this ferry just completed recently

Every ship has some special characteristics that you associate only with that ship.  For me, the most striking feature of the "Grand Manan V" is how little fuss she makes powering through the water.  If you ever watch her sail by, she slides throught the water making hardly any wake at all.  The designers at Knud E. Hansen sure did a great jobs with the hull lines under water to get the hull to part the water so effortlessly.  Accordingly, I painted the ship in very calm water, trying to convey that very smooth and minimal wake.

When she was designed in Denmark and built in the Netherlands and delivered to commence service to Grand Manan in August, 1990, the designers provided an attractive rendering on the funnel of the provincial galleon logo on blue waves, that was copied on the new "Grand Manan Adventure".

And, of course, to give it a universally understood Grand Manan context, I have depicted the ferry sliding smoothly past Swallowtail Light.

I will have prints of this painting at markets this summer, if anyone is interested in seeing them, or perhaps purchasing one as a gift for someone who might have fond memories of the 20+ years this ship has given us.

Merganser and Ducklings

This is the time of year we find mother ducks showing their little ducklings how to forage for food in the tidal shallows of our Fundy coves. 

Here is a print of my painting of a Merganser with her little ducklings.

The female Common Merganser looks like she is having a "bad hair day", with the tuft on the back of her head.

What a steep learning curve for the tiny ducklings to try to learn to feed and fend for themselves in so short a time.