Behind the Scenes

8x10 oil on canvas in reclaimed frame
(10x12 overall)

This marsh smells
It smells like the sulfurous sweetness of pluff mudd.
It smells of home. Of 4-H Camp on Jekyll Island in the late 80s.
Of the drive to Tybee on any random day.

This marsh has secrets.
It is hiding periwinkle snails and fiddler crabs. It is camouflaging oyster beds, fishes, clams and mussels. It knows where your flip flops went that day you decided to walk too far into the squish.

This marsh is working.
The spartina grass is filtering, slowing erosion, buffering against storms. It’s providing food and shelter to the myriad of creatures calling it home.

Sidney Lanier said the marsh is meshed with a million veins.
I say the marsh is an intricate web of events orchestrated behind the scenes.