Clark Cove, March 10, 2011

I had to go to the farm store in the center of the island to pick up rabbit food, so I figured I might as well stop by Clark Cove and see how it was passing the winter.

Turns out the cove is still under the usual thick cover of sea ice, and since the tide was coming in and the sky was a gloomy and ominous gray I didn't linger. It is always hard to get a good photo of snow, and the huge expanse of ice pretty much defeated me.

 Still, you can get some idea of the place.

I picked up a couple of bits of things, but my heart wasn't in it. What I did get were some great close-ups of ice, which is turning out to be this winter's obsession for me.

Patterns I can barely make out with my eyes turn out to be intricate and lacy or bold and abstract through the lens.

I get so close I've bumped into the ice with my lens a couple of times.

The three above were taken along the edges of the massive blocks of sea ice in the first photos, so they are hovering at least two feet over the beach stones. The next few photos were taken of this lovely little puddle near the end of the access road:

so they are more traditional ice lying on top of the water. The sea ice is fascinating because it is so open, so lacy.

 

The puddle, on the other hand, reminds me of paintings by Robert Motherwell or Elliott Puckett, with these broad, calligraphic gestures.

 

I could do drawings like this. Wouldn't that be amazing, to do an ink drawing based on this:

(All of these ice photos are taken with the Lumix as I'm still trying to get my nerve up to take the Nikon outdoors. I'd better get moving or winter will be over!)