Passover Mini Series,Continued 4'14

As a follow on to yesterday's post, I did in fact finish the two last minis for the Passover Series of the ingredients for a Seder Plate

Charoset ( 5" x 7" Oil

Above is my portrayal of some of the ingredients that go into Charoset ( honey, apple, dates and nuts)

And below is the shank bone(s)

Seder Shank Bones ( 7" x 5" oil)

I am very goal oriented, and sometimes I find it hard to let go.    My head kept telling me that Passover was over, and I should put this project aside until next year, but my heart would not let me do it.  This is one time I am very glad  I followed my heart.

CC's Paintings are now at The SAG Applewoods Gallery 7 ' 13

July 1st was art change-out day at the SAG Gallery at Applewoods. Applewood's owner, Amy Vlahos, is a great supporter of local artists, and has provided wall-space for thirteen of SAG's artists. CC replenished her wall space with lots of paintings of local landmarks.

New paintings at CAG 2 "13

 

I went to Charleston today with some new paintings for my wall space. I almost drown getting there in the torrential downpour we were having, but it was worth it. My wall looks really nice with the wildlife paintings I did at Hobcaw Barony/Wynyah Bay, Huntington Beach SP, and Magnolia Gardens.



Hobcaw Barony 4 '10

Hobcaw Barony  is a non-profit  wildlife refuge, aka Belle Baruch Foundation. Made as a royal land grant in 1718, it was eventually subdivided into 14 individual plantations. It became the winter residence of Wall Street millionaire and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch. Mr. Baruch's daughter, Belle, purchased all of the barony over a period of several years and at her death a foundation was created to use the land for the "purposes of teaching and/or research in forestry, marine biology, and the care and propagation of wildlife, flora and fauna" in the state of South Carolina.  The property , composed of low country  pine and maritime forest, and tidal marshlands, juts out into and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and Winyah Bay.  Access to the Barony's  17500 acres  is by guided tour only, and I have visited it several times  to kayak and bird-watch.  I wish the Foundation would sponsor a plein air painters or photographers day;  they don't, but I do have several great photos I've taken on the tours I have attended.

( Below photo of fire lookout tower) 

Given its immense acreage, and its geographical isolation, the marshlands here have a surreal quality about them.  The sky is huge  and other than the handful of people in my party there is almost no evidence of human. I always feel small.  It feels comforting to be reminded that nature has her own agenda and in many ways it is much more sublime than the plans of man.   I tried to capture that emotion this week with a couple of paintings of  the marsh at Hobcaw.  I included a human element in both just to give perspective to the scene, but in both cases, I tried to emphasize the grandeur of the place with its immense skies and endless empty horizons.

 Below:  Boat landing

Hobcaw Barony Oyster Havest Class 2 '10

Our nearby nature preserve, Hobcaw Barony, offers a  one day workshop

 on how to harvest and prepare  local oysters and clams

After listening to a brief discourse on the life cycle of oysters, a naturalist drove the attendees to Clam Bank Landing   in the preserve where he  pointed out the the beds where we would be harvesting the clams and oysters

It looks simple but when the ground is wet, as it was on this rainy day,  the  pluff mud gets very soft due to liquefaction

One can quickly sink up to one's knees in odoriferous saturated soil

As one of our  classmates found out .

We literally had to pull in out of his boots, then dig the boot back out of the mud for him.

We all arrived back at the classroom  a lot muddier and hungrier than when we left.

A guide showed up how to clean the oysters

and how to prepare the oysters and the clams  in several different ways like the clams casino above

 and  a low country oyster roasted below

Neighbors Robert LeClerc (above)

and Harry Susla ( below)  were more interest in the good part

Getting to eat them

Kayaking Hobcaw Barony 7 '09

Today we signed up for a group kayak tour of Hobcaw Barony's tidal creeks

 Our group met at the visitor center  near Highway 17.  From there, one of the guides drove us in a van to clam bank landing, 

 and received some basic instruction from the other guide on how to handle a kayak in tidal current.

Then we were off.  It was leisurely  paddle as the  mid tide was high and was flowing  gently toward the Ocean.  It carried us along without much effort.  All we had to do was steer clear of the cord-grass &;  mudflats

( Above my coworker Sue and her sister Pat coming ashore. Below: Sue) 

 We kayaked until we came to the leeward side of the last sandbar between  the Atlantic Ocean and Winyah Bay

Everyone beached their kayaks  and dragged them firmly up onto the beach behind the dunes so they couldn't float away.

 Above: Bruce and guide on beach

Below:  Pat and Sue on the beach

   We were  on a private island which  is off limits to anyone who does not have permission from Hobcaw Barony.  We took a long stroll on the beach facing the Atlantic Ocean. I have grown accustomed to how empty of people South Carolina's beaches can be during the off season, but this was different .  Not only were we the only people, it was completely devoid of all evidence of humanity.  On the barrier island, where you can see for miles, and there is not one man made element in the entire viewshed. I love that about this place. I could watch the play of light on the water, feel the texture of the sand, and know that those things would have been experienced in exactly the same way by colonists who lived here in the 1660s. it was an  odd feeling and even a little lonely.

After an hour of lunch and rest, it was time to kayak back to the landing.Unfortunately the return trip was not nearly so easy as the paddle out.  The tide had  fully turned, and had I not had Bruce to paddling with me, I don't know if I would have been strong enough to overcome the swift current working against us. 

Hobcaw Barony Bird Watching 1 '08

We were up bright an early on Friday, January 11th  for a bird watching event at  the Hobcaw Barony Reserve.   

The Reserve is at the North Inlet – Winyah Bay. 

  It is a vast area of virgin forest and marshland which is open to the public only through docent led tours.   We had signed up for a bird watching tour in the hopes of meeting other conservation minded folks.  As it turns out, the birding was poor that day; we only  saw  one bald eagle, a red meringer, a common loon, a dozen white pelicans (they rare in South Carolina), lesser and greater yellow legs,  red wing black birds,  yellow rumps, and a few other common woodland species. Even the herons and storks were no where to be seen.  The views of the vast  pristine marshland, made up for the lack of birds.  

Hobcaw Fire-watch Tower

Clam Bank Landing Road

Clam bank Landing

Since we were driven in vans to the birding sites, there was no exercise to speak of, so we can’t quite count this an adventure date.  On the other hand, the social contacts were outstanding.  We met the president of the local Audubon chapter and were invited to go birding with him in Huntington Beach State Park.  We also met the woman who heads up a newly started volunteer naturalist training program.  Needless to say we are now on her list of contacts.  This was definitely a big plus towards our goal of getting more integrated into our community.

South Carolina’s Estuaries. 6 '07

Pawleys Island Marsh

One of the things that attracted us to South Carolina was its estuary rich environment. The entire coast is lined with them, and most appear healthy.   In California we had been docents for the Friends of Newport Back Bay and for the California Fish and Game.  Knowing  the what the lack of estuaries on the west coast  is doing to our migrating birds  and fish populations, has only added to our appreciation of the importance of these ecosystems.  

South Carolina Estuaries take two forms: fresh water and salt water.   The salt- water form is caused by tidal input from the Atlantic Ocean, and the fresh from the huge muddy rivers which flow into the lowlands before meeting the Ocean.   Of course the two inter-mingle at some point, but before they do, there are some very distinct differences.  You can be certain we will write more on this topic in the future.

Cat-tail and alligators are to be found in the freshwater.

One of Pawleys Plantation Alligators

Low tide on the salt water marshes expose huge Oyster beds 

 Oyster Beds at Hobcaw Barony