JEKYLL ISLAND, GEORGIA

Where the Pirates Came Ashore, 8.5 x 14.5 ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I drew this on Jekyll Island, one of the southernmost of the barrier islands along Georgia's Atlantic coast a few weeks ago.  It was an overcast day and in fact it rained while we were indoors having a late lunch of grilled freshly caught shrimp.  Afterwards we drove around the island and I found this spot to draw.  It looked like a sleepy tropical backwater and it felt like I was creating an illustration for a story like Treasure Island or Captain David Grief, so I gave it an appropriate title.  I had about finished the drawing when a gigantic ship came down the channel between the island and the Georgia mainland visible on the horizon.  It turns out that is a deepwater channel linking the port of Brunswick to the Atlantic Ocean.  The ship was as big as a container ship, but instead of being stacked with containers it was a big enclosed box with a huge hatch on its stern.  I had never seen anything like it, but I live in Chicago where we don't see many oceangoing ships.  When we drove back to Jacksonville I saw a similar ship docked further up the estuary next to a huge lot filled with thousands of brand new cars.

The Mystery Ship

TWO FROM THE GEORGIA COAST

Dune Boardwalks, Tybee Island, Georgia, 10 x 14 inch ink and watercolor by George C, Clark    AVAILABLE

Boardwalks are used to access this beach on an island near Savannah to protect the dunes and their delicate flora from erosion.  I drew this one on-site.

On the Palmetto Coast, Georgia,  12 x 16 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    SOLD

I did this one later in the studio from my on-site photographs.  When we were there the sun was going down, it was suppertime, we were starving, and there was a shrimp shack nearby with its own shrimp boat docked behind it.

Update December 2012:  This painting now belongs to a private collection in Florida.