2020
Acrylic Paint on Linen
I started about 11AM and finished up around 430 on a Wednesday in late August 2020.
This is a unique spot on the NJ coastline right above Cape May and the Delaware Bay and well south of the madness of Atlantic City. These South Jersey beach towns have half the summer crowds this year. You never know when the time, weather and sun will give you a painting window, but this warm Summer Day called me out.
Hurricane Sandy, Halloween 2012, knocked out the southern end of this bridge. It closed for a year while the DOT took its good old time on repairs.
The two-window toll booth stands right at the draw…which opens for anything higher than 30 feet. A deep-draft boat comes towards the inlet and sounds its horn…the bridgeman sounds its horn back while the bridge bells sound, railroad gates come down, traffic stops and the Bascule design 100 foot steel-grate roadway tilts into the sky.
It used to cost a quarter to cross back when I was a regular surfer.
I wrote a story….. years before Sandy: about a night crossing of a causeway, the bridge and into a storm-ripped beach town in the middle of a hurricane. This 1939 bridge was the inspiration.
The “book”, composed entirely on the now-defunct social media format called Myspace, was called “The Keeport Diner”. I put anyone I interacted with on that social media platform into the story on a daily basis. I still have some of my old Myspace friends.
I quick printed off a copy of the “Diner” before Myspace went dark and one day I’ll edit and get it printed.
Thanks again Carol and Ed for a great stay and the opportunity to paint this beauty from your Avalon YC.