The Baths at Wills Bay

The “baths” at remote Wills Bay on the northwest shore of St. Croix is essentially a large tidepool set among sharp jagged rocks. The water is clear and green and is refreshed periodically when a large ocean swell crashes into the rock barrier and splashes over into the pool. It’s a bit of a struggle to get there (unless you hire a jeep and…

A Flower in the Magic Forest

The cannonball tree is named for its heavy round fruit that grows on gnarled stems attached to the tree’s trunk (see photo below). The flowers are beautifully complex and colorful, with hues of red, orange, yellow and white – almost a world unto themselves. You can see a second interpretation of this flower on my web site. This tree is a specimen at the…

Along King Street in Frederiksted

A young woman was relaxing in the shade of an arched arcade along the main thoroughfare of Frederiksted on the west end of St. Croix. The colors of her clothes and the building, her white headscarf, and the classic arch of the building’s arcade made for an iconic image of this old and economically depressed town.

Just Color!

An old wood shutter, black iron hinge and peeling paint on the stucco wall provided the raw material. These peeling and crumbling tropical facades are the subject of thousands of photos by tourists and pros alike. Still, I can’t resist adding just one more to the pile.

Flaming Hibiscus

I saw this beautiful yellow hibiscus while walking in the neighborhood. It seemed to be just crackling and sizzling with energy, a physical manifestation of the sunshine we get here each day.

Point Udall View to Buck Island

Local tourism brochures advertise Point Udall on St. Croix as the easternmost point in the United States. The park and monument on Point Udall are on a high hill. This view looks back to the northwest along St. Croix’s north shore toward the iconic Buck Island in the distance. Although abstracted into a study in shape and color, the glowing attraction of the offshore…

Black Pineapple

Narrow and tall with a dark green skin, the black pineapple is a Caribbean favorite. Topped with rust-tinged leaves, this one seems to glow with sweetness.

The Changing Room

This image came from a little park on the beach nearby. There is a small building with changing rooms for swimmers, and a number of large rocks and boulders that have been painted bright pink, yellow and purple. The half door, the colored boulders and the play of the shadows under the eaves in the early morning light led to this abstraction.

Buck Island View 2

Thanks to Jane Hunt for giving me the blogger’s lemonade award! Jane paints contemplative heavily-textured acrylic landscapes. Check out her blog! Since I ‘ve just passed on a tag of another award, I will leave this one on countertop for a few days before sending it on to some worthy bloggers helpful to other artists. Instead, for today, I’ll share a new view of…

Sea Grape

When they take the form of a tree, sea grapes have a distinctive shape and silhouette, and an interesting texture with their large round flat red-veined leaves. This one had taken up a traditional position along the shore. The early morning light gave even the green leaves a reddish glow. I eliminated some of the distracting detail to focus on the colors, the light…

Chocolate Fruit, the Black Sapote

A ripe black sapote turns a dark geenish brown, and feels soft underneath the thin leathery skin. Sometimes called the “chocolate fruit”, it doesn’t look appetizing, even when cut open exposing the black-brown custard like interior. But taste it. Looks can be deceiving, and expanding one’s concept of what is edible is rewarding. In fact, after witnessing the making of a sausage or a…

Carambola Dream

Believe it or not, this too started out as a picture of a carambola — a single fruit on a marble slab. But it is still there — its gentle curves and angular shapes, ripeness, tartness, splinters of color reflected and from within, and the smooth leathery feel of its skin.