House on Mystic Bay

The east coast of the United States has a number of lighthouses located on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf, from New England to Florida to Texas. These structures were necessary to help guide ships and to prevent them from running onto rocks and sand bars along the coast. While they might not be as important today as in the past, their architectural beauty remains as a beacon to maritime history. This pencil drawing depicts a house that sits upon a weathered and steep shoreline on the New England coast. In the distance a lighthouse stands in solitary keeping watch over the waves. Mystic Bay is only a fictional place, but it represents all the inlets that a passing ship might encounter on its watery journey. I drew this scene before my art classes as a demonstration piece. I had at different times demonstrated both drawings and paintings and some of the work was given to students. This drawing is one of the few I kept and later made it into a limited edition print.