Status of Original Painting – Sold at charity auction

Size: 15 x 20  inches

Medium: Watercolour on 300 lb Arches

Description:

This is a view of vertical sea stacks and cliffside from the Skerwink Trail in Port Rexton or Trinity East, on the Bonavista Peninsula in Newfoundland. The Skerwink Trail is 5.3 km long, taking you through forest and hills, and quite close to cliff edges and spectacular views of the ocean. Not for the faint of heart and certainly not wheelchair accessible! We went on a morning when it had rained overnight and the fog was lifting. This meant the steep ascents and descents were more challenging due to the slippery, muddy surfaces. The sun was breaking through the mist when I took the reference photo for this painting.

Skerwink Trail apparently gets its name from skirwingle, which The Dictionary of Newfoundland English tells me is an old English name for a sea bird that is now referred to as the shearwater. It is so named because it skims close to the water wings outspread, seeming to shear the tops of the waves. The Great Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, and Manx Shearwater can be found in Newfoundland. Depending on the time of year, you may also see puffins, bald eagles, other sea birds, and icebergs from the Skerwink Trail.

The sea stacks along the Skerwink Trail apparently all have names appropriate to their shapes, although I don’t recall seeing any signs on the trail identifying them. Rather than hazard to guess what the sea stack with the suggestive shape on the far right might be called, I took Lisa’s suggestion of calling this painting “Carved by the Sea.”