Merrimack River Painters

PAINTINGS OF THE SEA

By SUSAN LEVENSON

       

 As someone who has spent their entire life living by the sea, there are many reasons to love its calming openness and how it connects with you. It gives the feeling of harmony, motivation and insight. It captures your imagination.

         In my childhood, and as a young adult, the ocean was ever present outside our cottage nestled by the sand dunes. It was my life.

          Summers were spent swimming, riding the rush of the waves on the beach, catching plentiful Pollack and Flounder off the bridge and watching the seals in front of our house. We became experts as to which clam, fish or bird was which.

 We rode our bikes everywhere. We explored the ins and outs of the marine life in the tidal pools in the rocky coast. This life has provided a sense of nostalgia, belonging and home to this day. And it has connected me to people I have loved.

   

          One day I discovered the local art gallery gave art lessons for kids.

          The art instructor would load us budding artists in his car and off we would go to pristine sites along the rocks and water, farms, and vistas. But mostly we painted the magnificent sea and the shoreline rocks.

          Working in oil paint, as a youngster, I learned how to use materials and mix a palette that has been etched in my memory to this day.  

I loved to listen to the roar and crash of the breakers against the rocks and then ebb away as I worked. I loved the music when the wave rolled over glistening stones and churned the sand in a back rush of water. To this day, the music and rhythms are in my head as I am painting the ocean again.

        

  After a lifetime I can, indeed, attribute my three careers in the arts to my many years by the sea.

          When I retired after a 38-year hiatus, I started to paint the sea in watercolor. These paintings showcase my work.

          It is true to quote Jacques Cousteau: “The sea, it holds one in a net of wonder forever.”