Salt Marshes

                                    

Lately I have been interested [OK, admittedly obsessed!] with the beautiful, wide open salt marshes of our area—Essex, Ipswich, and Gloucester, in particular. I love the salt marshes in every season because they are the ultimate chameleons—ever changing, ever evolving, and always magnificent. On a snowy, wintery day one can barely make out the river of flowing water, or you will see crusty icebergs that look more like white Mississippi mud flats. In winter the salt marsh hay turns a golden brown which gets all matted down like a wet dog caught in the rain. The reemergence of the new salt marsh hay in springtime is beautiful and miraculous, as with any perennial. In summer when the air is buttered with humidity, the grass is a vibrant lime green that sways in the breeze, and if you're lucky you'll see white cranes picking for nibbles at low tide. The fall salt marshes are an absolute riot of colors! The waning hay turns into a psychedelic mélange of pinky, orange, lime, and gold colors, and if you catch the marsh on a full moon when the tides are über high, then all you see are the tops of those crazy hay colors floating on the marsh waters. It's magic. And so the cycle goes. Every day, and every time of day, the marshes have a different mood to delight us. The painting above was shown in the Annual Crane Estate Art Show in at Castle Hill in Ipswich. Here are several more examples of my salt marsh paintings.

photos, Dan Ryan

Well I did warn you that I was obsessed with them, didn't I? And there are even more on my website, dianecarnevale.com. I don't know what draws me to these salt marshes, but there's no stopping me!