SOLD
16x20Thanks to the theatrics of Jim Cantore during Hurricane Earl, the Saturday morning of Labor Day Weekend found the calm and sunny beaches at Nags Head as desolate as they are on a cold and rainy February morning. My wife and I took full advantage and walked together for miles up and down the sandy coastal stretch of the town's historic district marveling at the beauty of all the old and weathered cottages as they sat abandoned - some with their blinds still nailed shut from their owners' preparation for 'ol Jim's monster storm. With hardly another soul in sight and having the whole beach to ourselves during what is normally one of the busiest weekends of the summer, we kept walking and talking for hours. This structure, along with another further South, kept sticking out and catching my eye for a possible painting. In its rustic simplicity, it can be seen by beachcombers far away as it literally sits on the beach above the incoming tide. I regretted not taking my camera that morning as I would have surely taken many snaps of this 'ol surf shack and the other, but to my good fortune, Beth Strandberg, whose family's cottage borders this place on top of a dune, captured the best angle of this structure and my favorite color combination a Northeast wind and warm clear skies bring to the Atlantic Ocean - a lighter blue on the horizon mixing to a darker blue in the middle and a more greenish blue closer to shore with white caps and breaking waves scattered about.
Now I'm glad I didn't have my camera that morning, and Jim has my vote for best drama for the 2011 Emmy Awards.
