The Painted Light House

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The Painted Light House My goal is to re-create on canvas, sand dollars or other media the visual images I get from our travels to lighthouses or seaside locations around the world.

Who has not stood on a beach and looked out on the ocean in awe of the vastness before them as the water touches the sky, unthinkable miles away? For thousands of years Man has gone to sea in all manner of boats to face Nature in all Her majesty- facing storms, winds, heavy seas, rain and, in many cases, lost, cold, and alone. In the early days of ocean travel it was all done by sail. Sailors of t

he day counted on favorable winds. If there were none that could mean many days at sea with just the ocean’s currents determining their direction. When the lookouts shouted out, “Land Ho”, the crew could only hope this landfall was a safe coastline. The Lighthouse, that Coastal Beacon of safety that dot the shore lines and inland waters around the world, helped to bring comfort and safe passage to so many mariners over the years- and still do. Every sailor who has ever put to sea has a fond spot in their heart for lighthouses and all they stand for. Now, people all over recognize that this harbinger of sea lore is fading into obscurity and are mobilizing to help restore and bring back to life the remaining great Coastal Beacons, the lighthouses. The Painted Lighthouse brings to you authentic depictions of lighthouses from around the world. They may be on different media- Sand Dollars, Canvas, or Over the Door Planks- but all are re-created from the artist’s visits or pictures from others’ visits. Each painting comes with a brief history of that particular lighthouse including the keepers who tended the light.

Welcome to a beautiful rainy June day. Yes, it is beautiful because it is pouring rain and we haven’t had rain in so ver...
14/06/2024

Welcome to a beautiful rainy June day. Yes, it is beautiful because it is pouring rain and we haven’t had rain in so very long, at least rain of any consequence. Just south of us in South Florida, they are in the middle of floods, you know, too much of a good thing so I guess it a matter of “be careful of what you wish for”.
In news from around the lighthouse world, our very own Cape Florida Lighthouse located on the east coast in the Bill Baggs State Park is getting an upgrade – new windows in the lantern room. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, many repairs were made to the lighthouse and after an extensive restoration in 1996, the windows in the lantern room were replaced by Plexiglas panes. Over the past 28 years the sun, wind, and sand have taken their toll on the Plexiglas, rather than a nice clear panel it is now an opaque piece that shows a much duller light from the lantern inside. The Plexiglas will be replaced by original style glass and once again shine brightly. This, is thanks to very dedicated local volunteers and civic organizations.
Speaking of restoration efforts, the Sanibel lighthouse comes to mind. After Hurricane Ian hit this region back in 2022, we are reminded why this style of lighthouse was built, the pipe or “skeletal” lighthouse. (They are not perfect, remember the Sanibel light lost a leg but it was shored up waiting for the steel leg to be replaced.) In fact, they have a name, Sanibel-Class, and there are quite a few of them. While most of them are here in Florida, you will recognize them as Cape San Blas, Anclote Key, and Crooked River (Carrabelle), there are others around the country such as Sapelo Island (now at Fox Island, GA), Throgs Neck in NY, Point Loma, CA, Plumb Island, Wi. to name just a few. The advantage of these skeletal lighthouses was in their construction, their open construction is more wind resistant and more resistant to wave action. They were less expensive to build than masonry lighthouses. They were “prefab” bolt-together sections floated to their ultimate construction site on ships sent from their manufacturer Phoenix Steel. Personally, I find this very interesting because my wife and I, when as young parents if our daughter was having trouble sleeping as an infant, we loaded her into our Saab and drove up Rt.100 to Phoenixville, PA, the home of Phoenix Steel, and back again. Little did I know way back then that we actually lived where the Sanibel Light was built. The skeletals came in two classes based on size, the tallest was the Sanibel class at 105 feet and five sections. Next was the smaller version at 60 to 65 feet and they were in three sections, either way they were built at Phoenix Steel and shipped to their destination where they were assembled on site.
Finally, from the studio, again I almost forgot to add a few paintings.
The first two are from the inland waters of north Central Florida at the request of a client, it is the Mount Dora Lighthouse. A small freshwater lighthouse to help the local community provide guidance to local fishermen. Along with it Jill and I found a very small “lighthouse” on a dock, only about ten feet tall, when we saw it, power was provided by an extension cord, I had to paint it too. Next is a 16x20 canvas titled “The Pier”. This is currently for sale.

On the move and nothing to do with lighthouses at least it ended up that way. Actually it started out with a lighthouse ...
26/04/2024

On the move and nothing to do with lighthouses at least it ended up that way. Actually it started out with a lighthouse in mind but more about that later. When my wife, Jill retired after teaching middle school science for forty years one of the first thing she said was (actually, the first thing was do not set the alarm tomorrow, if you do, you’re dead) was in 2024 there is a total solar eclipse. I want to see it. Now she retired several years ago so this was a bucket list item. She researched the path of the eclipse, remember she was a science teacher, she printed out the path of the eclipse, remember she was a science teacher, she booked an Airbnb in Hot Springs Arkansas in May of 2023, remember she was a teacher for forty years. So, April 3rd off we went, car loaded, I with my cameras, binoculars, three pairs for the two of us, I was in the Marine Corps so you just might need an extra (I know you cannot use them on an eclipse except during totality. Car loaded with diet Cokes and water plus many pair of approved official eclipse glasses, remember she was a science teacher. We are avid National Park people but it was fascinating to realize that Hot Springs National Park is the town of Hot Springs itself plus much of the surrounding area. Enroute, we met numerous people making the same trip, to view totality from someplace, when we started it was either farther north or Texas or Arkansas, the closer we got it narrowed down to Little Rock or Hot Springs. Once we got there, I don’t think anyone went anyplace else except Hot Springs. It was packed, it was fun. The vibe was interesting, there definitely a certain demographic, more multicolored hair than I’ve seen in one place for a while, loads of tied-dyed wardrobes and I lived through the 60’s. The ambiance was fantastic, the crowds were a blast everyone was excited for this opportunity to see this natural event. My favorite though was a young lady wearing a tee shirt, that on the front claimed she was a “Flat Earther”, I wanted to ask her to explain this then. I behaved myself. The highlight of the day was Jill and I were interviewed by Fox & Friends and ended up on National TV. When Monday, eclipse day came about, we opted to stay put at our Airbnb and not fight the crowds in town. The house sat on eleven acres, so we had plenty of viewing space. The event, in my mind, did not disappoint, I was able to photograph stages of the eclipse. I think the thing that stuck me the most was on a daily basis the nighttime ends and the sun comes up - gradually. Here, during the eclipse it was dark, pitch black, so dark in fact that I had an issue with my camera and could not address it because I could not see it because it was so dark. Yet unlike the morning when the moon passed by the sun, just a little bit it instantly became bright, not gradually but instantly. Amazing.
Well, the next day we went into Hot Springs to look around, figuring most of the people would have left, they did, and we could see things like the “Loop” up around the mountain without the massive line of cars we encountered before. It was fantastic, we went into the bathhouses, learned a lot of history of this now little town but was once bigger than Las Vegas for the gambling industry, it really had quite the sorted background. Remember that lighthouse? We were planning a trip to Biloxi to see their lighthouse, I know, it is just a tourist attraction now, it was moved to a park in town, but it is a lighthouse, and we were going that way until… Weather struck, there were heavy storm warnings, flood warnings, tornado warnings and watches up and down our travel route so we went an alternate way home. We ended up with good weather and following seas (as we say in sailing). Made it home with nothing more than a broken windshield thanks to a stone in Alabama. So, I’m attaching a bunch of pictures from the trip including totality, next time I’ll put up some paintings, yes I’m still doing that.

Okay, a follow-up on Build It and They Will Come. They did and they did. First of all, I am happy to say that Duke Energ...
22/02/2024

Okay, a follow-up on Build It and They Will Come. They did and they did. First of all, I am happy to say that Duke Energy is to be commended, they responded to a lot of pressure from the community and placed a stand-alone pole with a platform on it for the osprey to build their nest. Thank you, Duke Energy. They built it. As of today, an osprey has started building a new nest. They came. On a sad note, however, it has been reported that one of the nesting pair has lost its life in this turmoil. As I said in my original post, they do mate for life but if they lost a mate due to death, they would build a new nest and try and find a new mate. Not certain if it is the male or female who is the surviving member. It fascinates me that the instinct is so strong to nest in that same spot or so very close that this osprey is right back here within feet of where the old nest was.
Now on to The Painted Lighthouse. Some changes. I started The Painted Lighthouse Group a few years ago as a place for lighthouse minded people to go and talk about lighthouses, and their travels to lighthouses in general and the areas where they find these great guardians of the seas. But something happened along the way. The site had been hijacked and was not being used for that purpose. I tried to clean it up once, but it continued. The other day I started to try to clean it up again, but it is such a huge task I figured that it would just continue so I decided to shut it down. I apologize to those who are using it, but we still have the main site of The Painted Lighthouse. I generally use my sites for my painting, but I enjoy all sorts of conversation including photos. There are a couple other groups I frequent too and recommend, Interesting Lighthouses of the World is one of my favorites, great photography.
Speaking of paintings I just finished two more today, the first is Fort Pickering on Winter Island Massachusetts’s second is a departure for me. I have come, in my mind, to realize that I am not an artist, I am just a painter. I recreate pictures of things I see or that others have seen and took a photo of and want me to paint. An artist is one who, from images in their mind, can create an image or picture. Well lately I've been toying with that, experimenting. That's tough. If you remember several months back, I painted a lighthouse I called "The Fury" from an image in my mind what I got from a book I was reading, “The Lamp Lighters" My first real stab at this creative image thing. Tuesday, I thought I would try something different, do something with my paints I've never done, make them like oils, very heavy consistency and create an image of contrast. This is not who am. I had fun though. The idea needs work, at least to me, but it's a start. I sat and looked at it when done and had a headache.
Below are both of those paintings, I had fun, hope you do too.

20/02/2024

IF THEY BUILD IT THEY WILL COME
Good Tuesday morning. As most of you know I am a water-based person, raised on and around the waters of the US. My wife Jill and I both studied the natural sciences in college and have a great love for our winged sea and inland water creatures which brings me to this post. The majestic Osprey, we have many that live around us now, that was not always the case. At one point the osprey were endangered. Why, they were losing their habitat. Not an unusual story but theirs is one of success. As trees were cut down for new housing, everyone must live somewhere, someone suggested to the power companies that they could replace the lost nesting sites with dishes. Yes, dishes, similar to the little satellite dishes. They placed them on their power poles, success. It kept the osprey from nesting on the power companies’ poles (and causing issues) plus it gave the osprey more and safer nesting sites. What is my point? Where we live in Florida, they are starting to build a "fly-over", for those not familiar with that term it is a vertical bypass, over another road. To prepare they are doing a lot of other work like replacing all the old power poles with new concrete poles. One of the poles they removed at Tampa Rd and Lake St. George in Pinellas County had one of these nesting dishes on it...they removed it. No problem, but they did not replace it. Now the osprey are interesting birds, for one, they mate for life. Secondly the same couple return each year to the same nesting site to mate and raise another family. They do not occupy the nest all twelve months, they leave and come back (remember that). Well, since they removed that nesting dish (platform) we have had three power outages in about about three weeks, the ospreys are trying to nest in a pole next to their site that has no platform, just wires. They came back to no nesting platform. Jill and I watched them carry nesting material up to the pole to build their nest at the new site and were afraid it might not be good. It hasn’t been. When the power goes out Duke Energy just says wildlife is interfering with its wires. Today they finally admitted it is the osprey. A call to Florida Fish and Wildlife got a response that “it’s not illegal to remove a nest if it’s not active and this one wasn’t.” I cannot believe that someone at Florida Fish and Wildlife doesn’t know that osprey DO COME BACK and IF IT ISN’T ACTIVE NOW IT WILL BE, also I cannot believe they bought Duke Energy’s story that it wasn’t active. If it had a platform, they should have put one back up. Proof is they came back and are trying to build a nest next to where the old one was. Come on Duke Energy put up the platform, it is going to cost you less in the long run and help the osprey to continue to thrive.

Spring is coming although one could not prove it by our weather, we are still wearing long pants and long sleave T-shirt...
06/02/2024

Spring is coming although one could not prove it by our weather, we are still wearing long pants and long sleave T-shirts, sometimes even jackets. But at long last we are getting rain, not to the extent as those poor souls in the western states. Things have been active here on many fronts, The Painted Lighthouse has been busy, but on a personal note both Jill and I have been busy, so all has been good. As usual I have been remiss in my communications on Facebook, I try but as I have said before I am a quiet person who really doesn’t like to talk on the telephone much less post on Facebook. When I was still in the corporate world Blackberrys were just coming into popularity, in my position I was supposed to have one, everyone else in my position did, literally when they were first being handed out, I hid (made myself scarce). Well about a month later we received a communication at about 5 a.m. that we were responsible for (that’s why I didn’t want one). That morning, we were in our staff meeting and our CEO addressed this communication and asked me my thoughts, I had none because I didn’t know anything about it. She reminded me she had sent it via Blackberry. Busted! Before the meeting ended, I had a nice new Blackberry with my new phone number and my life was never the same. I never had a quiet vacation again. I am sure many can relate but I prefer hearing from you, all your stories, mine, aren’t that exciting.
Anyhow, today we are preparing for the next Safety Harbor show in March, called Chalkfest, I know many of you attend this because you stop by to say “hi” plus purchase art from us. Thank you, looking forward to seeing you again this year. This is a great show because it isn’t just us presenting our art, there are the fantastic chalk artists doing up Main Street in grand fashion.
As for what I’ve been doing, a lot and forgetting to take pictures of course but I did just finish two projects, one for a client who is from Minnesota and has a fondness for the Split Rock Lighthouse so I did two sand dollars for her plus her son-in-law who, while in the Marine Corps, was stationed in Japan and like me loved it so I did a Japanese Lighthouse for him. It just so happened it was a lighthouse I was familiar with as it was fairly close to where I lived in Yamaguchi. You may remember a while back I mentioned I read a book by Lee Radzik, who “tended” the Split Rock Lighthouse, so it was close to my heart too. I have attached all three pictures. After that I decided to do a project just for me, I had this thing rolling around in my head for a while, just a simple picture minimum color palate but fun. So, the last picture is a cold winter night overlooking a dock with a cold full moon.
Remember, all my paintings are for sale, if you would like something you don’t see let’s talk about it or if I’m out of one that you do see, I’ll paint it again.
Hope everyone enjoys Valentine’s Day and we look forward to seeing you in Safety Harbor at the Chalkfest.

03/12/2023

Okay so, Facebook got me again, sorry post got out befoe I edited it. Apoligize for errors in the post.

Well good afternoon on this December day as we all get ready for our respective holidays. Much has happened since I was ...
03/12/2023

Well good afternoon on this December day as we all get ready for our respective holidays. Much has happened since I was last behind these keys, I had a valve job, of the aortic version, then a short time after that I guess the old engine was still acting up so they checked the electrical system and updated that with a pacemaker. That fortunately is not made by Joseph Lucas (yes I am an old British car guy.) so I'm good to go for another long time. Speaking of going, this coming weekend The Painted Lighthouse will be in Safety Harbor, Florida for the annual Holiday Art Show. The show hours are from 9 am to 4 pm, it will feature some really talented artists and craftsman (and women) plus food. It is always good fun for a great cause, it is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Safety Harbor with the help of other clubs in the area. I will be bringing lots of new paintings, some Christmas items and one that has special meaning. As many of you know, my father passed on June 19, 2019, well the funeral home had memorial cards done, on his was a lighthouse. When I was going through his estate docs I came across this memorial card and saw the lighthouse, it is the Pigeon Point Light in California. I thought I should paint it as a memorial to him, I did a sand dollar of it too and I'm calling it Dad's Lighthouse. It's also Pigeon Point, I can't totally steal their name can I? Lots of fun things this weekend on Main Street in Safety Harbor, Jill and I will both be there hope to see everyone again, it's been awhile but we are up and around again.

Happy Monday Morning. Where have I been you might ask, well go ahead, and ask...but it's complicated and personal so let...
18/09/2023

Happy Monday Morning. Where have I been you might ask, well go ahead, and ask...but it's complicated and personal so let's just leave it at that. I'm still painting when I can, still writing when I can, and still doing when I can. We took the boat up to the Anclote Lighthouse recently, a beautiful day on the water. Almost made it until the motor acted up and given the distance, we had to go, I made the decision to head back to our marina, decided not to take a chance. Made it back fine. So close but… oh well, we live close, we’ll do it another day. It is nice living on the ICW, we have access to so many places so easily.
Oh yeah, speaking of which we had a hurricane recently. Remember that ICW and marina thing? Well, there is also a downside, had to go and pull the boat the day before it hit then do some cleanup afterwards, there were all kinds of logs and debris in places that boats should be. Oh well...the price, as the saying goes.
Back in the studio, what's going on? Well, we have a show coming up next month, October 21 & 22, it is the Annual Fall Fest on Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, Florida. It is a big Art and Craft used as a fund raiser to benefit the Friends of the Island, a great group who oversees the ecology of the Honeymoon and Caladesi Island community. We are really looking forward to being there. As far as studio work goes, yes, I have. I just completed one piece that put me in communication with a person I’ve admired for many years, I’ve also used her books for years. The lighthouse I painted was the Limerick lighthouse in Pennsylvania, a very small lighthouse, rather unique in appearance. The opportunity to paint it came to me, and I was thrilled as I know that region of Pennsylvania very well but never knew there was a lighthouse there, why would there be, it is farmland. So, as I was doing my historical research, I was not really finding much. I stumbled across an article that gave more detail than what I found, I figured I’d go with this but there was a disclaimer that said I needed the author’s permission to use the info. As I started to read more, I realized who I was writing to was Elinor DeWire. Elinor has written many books on lighthouses and is one of the preeminent authorities on the subject. Well needless to say she wrote back and like a true lighthouse lover and expert she was more than happy to share her information with others, I included her info with what I found in the painting’s brochure. She asked for a picture of the painting I painted and a copy of the brochure. I truly love doing what I do, you meet the nicest people, either other artists or enthusiasts. Everyone enjoys talking about lighthouses, their experiences in them around them or even in many cases a family member who tended them. Below I’ve included several recent paintings: The Holland Harbor Lighthouse (AKA Big Red), Castle Hill Lighthouse, Newport RI, Cape George, Nova Scotia, and finally Limerick Lighthouse, PA

Good Tuesday morning, 8 August 2023, it's National Lighthouse Day. The day we lighthouse lovers live for, well we lighth...
08/08/2023

Good Tuesday morning, 8 August 2023, it's National Lighthouse Day. The day we lighthouse lovers live for, well we lighthouse lovers that don't have real lives. Yes I admit it I do not, aside from my family (they of course come first) have a life outside my lighthouses. I go into the studio everyday around 10:00 a.m. to paint, take a few paint drying breaks during the day but that's it. I love painting, my photo work and traveling to see new lighthouses. Actually my wife and I plan vacations around lighthouses. So today is our day, enjoy it and all that it stands for, not just those magnifcent coastal beacons but remember the keepers who kept them lit for centuries just to keep mariners safe.
Speaking of painting, two of my latest are distant and local lights. The local light is the Anclote Key Lighthouse in Tarpon Springs, Florida. It is right off the coast of Pinellas County here in Florida, it is so local that both of our daughter graduated from Tarpon Springs High School years ago. It was restored and relit some years back after falling into disrepair by the local lighthouse society and they did a fantastic job. We can take our boat up to the island it sits on and enjoy the work they did.
The next light is the Castle Hill Lighthouse in Newport Rhode Island. We visitewd it when wew made our recent New England trip. I had written about this little light in a previous post, it is just thirty-eight feet tall but that heighth means the world to the coastal maritime traffic in the region and has for many years.
The Anclote Key painting is a small 12X16 inch acrylic on canvas, while the Castle Hill is a 6x5 inch Sand Dollar.
So enjoy fair winds and calm seas.

Well, here I am again on Thursday morning in the studio painting…well not really, I’m staring at a half-finished canvas....
29/06/2023

Well, here I am again on Thursday morning in the studio painting…well not really, I’m staring at a half-finished canvas. Blankly. Uninspired. Truth is lately I have been dealing with several issues one of which is health. My doctor keeps telling me I need to exercise more, try walking he says, he even gave me a pamphlet telling why I should. It said walking can add minutes to your life. This enables you, at 85 years old, to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $7,000 a month. When I walk, I have to do it early in the morning, before my brain wakes up and figures out what I’m doing. But, I have been doing a lot of exercising the last couple years, it’s a lot of work getting over-the-hill but I made it.
Well back to work, I’ve goofed off long enough. I’m working on painting the Castle Hill lighthouse. This 34 ft tall lighthouse is in Newport, Rhode Island, while it is technically on private land one can ask permission to go see it. It quickly became one of my favorites on our northern voyage, when approached on land you see only the top of the lighthouse but there are stairs to the base. You see, it is built on the side of a “cliff”. Charming, purposeful lighthouse and in a perfect location. All this talk about the Castle Hill has inspired me.

Here is another painting that was done recently, this one is from a photo taken from the bach on Egmont Key, Florida loo...
06/06/2023

Here is another painting that was done recently, this one is from a photo taken from the bach on Egmont Key, Florida looking out near the lighthouse.

You have heard many times over the past year about my daughter Courtney who was in dental school, she and her husband we...
06/06/2023

You have heard many times over the past year about my daughter Courtney who was in dental school, she and her husband were living in DeFuniak Springs Florida. Well, it is over, yesterday she graduated and moved back home, back here to mid-south Florida. Our other daughter, her older sister gave her the biggest dental themed graduation party one could imagine. Both of my daughters are so special, each in their own way, they never stop amazing me. As a dad I am so proud of them and their husbands. Sorry, I just had to brag on them a little but now back to work.

During this past year I have been busy but not as much as I should have, that needs to change. This week we make our trip up the Eastern Shore, so I’ll get back in the swing of things. Speaking of the Eastern Shore, those who are familiar with it understand the lure to it. It is a very special place; it can be unforgiving at times to outsiders while at the same time very open to those who want to accept the culture. Being out on the islands of Smith Island, Tangiers, and Deal Island gives one the sense of going back in time, maybe a simpler time. This part of Virginia and Maryland set in the Chesapeake make up the home fishing, oystering and crabbing grounds of the “waterman”. There is so much tradition that surrounds these hardy men and women not only in their work but how it is done and the regulations to keep it on an even keel, such as the boats they are allowed to use. The traditions such as the Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks. At times they weren’t permitted to fish under power but to return to the docks they used a powered push boat. I enjoyed watching the wall of boats coming into the docks heading for the men on the docks holding out fists full of money for the first boat with baskets full of crabs. The first boats to the dock got the best price for their catch.

Below are two paintings, one is of the Cape Florida Lighthouse located on Florida’s east coast in the Upper Keys in Bill Baggs State Park. I have painted this light many times before both looking north and looking south as this depiction does. Each time from a slightly different perspective. The next painting is from a photograph taken on a late sunset evening on Tangiers Island. A quiet night, no clouds very little wind, minimal clouds, I can almost feel the mosquitoes biting now.

Wednesday afternoon here at The Painted Lighthouse and all is humming right along. This past weekend we traveled to Safe...
22/03/2023

Wednesday afternoon here at The Painted Lighthouse and all is humming right along. This past weekend we traveled to Safety Harbor to attend the Chalk Fest and Art Show, what a wonderful show the Kiwanis Club puts on. There are two clubs combining to make it happen, the Safety Harbor and the Top of the Bay clubs, thank you all for a great effort. We had a great show, a little cold especially at 6:30am when we were setting up but over all the weather was beautiful. I had the opportunity to talk to some really great people about lighthouses and two young people about art (that was really the most fun). One young lady was a really good sketch artist and her dad was very proud of her, as well as he should be, but the poor girl was embarrassed by his praise. It is really great though to see some of the young artist out there coming along.
Speaking about coming along, The Painted Lighthouse will be traveling to the Keystone Community Art Fair in May. I'll have more details in a few weeks as the details come in.
I had said in a recent post that I am going to try and show paintings as I get them done, well almost doing that. I was asked in a recent show by a client if I was familiar with the Tennessee River Lighthouse because she wanted a sand dollar painting of it. Well she sent me her picture of it so here is the picture of the lighthouse. Interesting thing is there is so little history about it, The Tennessee Valley Authority built it during the 1930's as a project but it is now privately owned and is being turned into a house. My other painting I am posting comes with a story. As everyone knows I only do real lighthouses (no makeyupies as a friend would say). Well this kind of is but isn't. I am reading a book called The Lamp Lighters, about lighthouses - of course. It is a novel about a real event, the author tells a story that takes place in England where three lighthouses keepers disappear. It really happened but this author wrote a fictionalized version of that story. Her story takes place on the Maiden Head Lighthouse, and she would write about this being on a rock and being in terrible storms. In my mind I pictured this lighthouse, I had an image of what it looked like. Now all the paintings I do are of bright skies and bright colors but this lighthouse did not. I always wanted to do a dark painting, a storm. This was my opportunity because the Maiden Head Light was dark, the skies were dark. I painted it. So here it is, it is titled "The Fury" and of course it is for sale.

28/12/2022

I LIKE BIG BOATS AND I CANNOT LIE

I also like lighthouses so they just sort of go hand in hand – I guess. My love of boats started very early in my life and just continued to grow as did I. But what made me think of this is a book I received for Christmas from my wife, Jill, The View from Split Rock by Lee Radzak. It is the true story of Lee Radzak, the keeper, and his family at the Split Rock Lighthouse. I admit I just started reading this book but so far I find it very good, but this is not about a book but about a boat (a ship really). The Edmund Fitzgerald, the ore ship made famous by Gordon Lightfoot. The first chapter of the book is devoted to this now-famous wreck and the part that The Split Rock Lighthouse and its keepers played in it. Reading it took me back to my first encounter with a large ship, the USS Talladega (APA208). My first assignment in the US Navy was aboard this troop transport ship to which I reported for duty on a Sunday afternoon in 1967. I never reported for duty on a Navy ship before so I wasn’t familiar with the procedures like saluting the ensign (the flag that flies at the aft end of the ship then the OOD - officer of the deck), then requesting permission to come aboard. Well once I was fully instructed on those and told where I could put my belongings I was left alone. Now the Talladega was 455 feet from stem to stern with a beam (width) of about 65 feet, I had no idea where I could or could not go. It was a Sunday afternoon and no one was aboard so I found a hatch cover and sat on it until people started coming back aboard that night. My first big boat, at 455 feet, the Big Fitz as the Edmund Fitzgerald was called, checked in at 729 feet with a crew of 29. The Talladega had a crew of 536 including officers. Talk about government overkill, the Fitz ran just fine with only 29 crew aboard. The thing was everything needed to work just right, no monkey wrenches in the well, so to speak. That first couple of days the Talladega seemed so big but once we put to sea it got smaller after a month at sea it was so very small. Guys would try and find small spaces on board just to hide where no one could find them, just for some solitude. As a medical person, I was aboard for just a short time before I was transferred to FMF (Fleet Marine Force) where I spent the rest of my military career with the Marine Corps. Vietnam wasn't fun, I missed my big boat. The thing is about these big boats when at sea they are all you have, you are on your own floating city, self-contained, and if something goes wrong everyone needs to rely on their shipmate to survive. Once we had a fire on board in the paint locker (paint storage room), to say it was a little concerning is an understatement but all the ship’s crew are well trained and the fire was extinguished. No harm just frazzled nerves. When you listen to the song “The Ballad of the Edmund Fitzgerald” it tells exactly what was happening in those last hours, to those men aboard. I am sure, were not thinking about being afraid but about saving their ship and their shipmates. In this case, it wasn't to be, but they are not forgotten, every November 10th at the Split Rock Lighthouse Lee Radzak started a tradition of lighting the lighthouse in commemoration of those 29 souls who perished in 1975. Once again a lighthouse serves as a beacon for the light to mankind. Thank you Lee Radzak.

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