The Final Post

 Above, Port-Aux-Basques Overlook, 10x10

I'M HOME, in Wachapreague, safe and sound, and glad to be with Peter and our menagerie. It was an amazing, inspiring and challenging trip, the fulfillment of a long-held dream, and I am delighted to have gone and seen and experienced.

I drove more than 2,500 miles, made 26 paintings and took more photos than I can count. I saw more than my share of clouds and less than my share of rain and sun, too. I was lucky to have a good friend to travel with for part of the trip, and lucky, too, to have another stretch of time to pass in solitary contemplation and deep work. 

I met kind and generous and lovely people. I felt welcomed by Canada and Canadians. I was impressed with the general good cheer and impressively good health of the people I met. The Newfoundlanders I encountered love Newfoundland, and by and large, want never to leave, never to live anywhere else. They are a tough breed, to live in such a difficult climate, such an unforgiving place, so isolated, so unforgiving, and to accept it entirely and with heart. They welcomed Carol and me, and the other travelers we met, with warmth and enthusiasm. 

 Above, Port-Aux-Basques Morning, 10x10

AND THE TRAVELERS I meet, nearly all Canadians, are enthusiastic about their country, their lives, their travels. They share stories, laughter, experiences. 

One couple has been on a motorcycle for a few weeks, from their home five hours north of Toronto. They have come part of the way on a cargo ship, and have had amazing adventures, seeing all kinds of things that I haven't seen. 

Two other couples, brothers and their wives, have been traveling in separate RVs for four weeks. They amuse Carol and me with tales of their adventures, and a bunch of silly rejoinders ("I asked where he was from," one man says, of a guy he'd met earlier in the trip, "and when he told me, 'Ohio,' I said, 'Well, someone has to be,'" and he laughs and laughs.   

Another couple is in a great, older RV, and has been on the road for six weeks. He is a terrific photographer, and in addition to showing me around their RV, shows me amazing photos of the puffins in Elliston, and gorgeous sunset photos, as well. 

I share a hotel-related irritation with a woman from Germany, who then tells me about her father, who, at the age of 60, had sold his car dealership and bought a farm in New Brunswick. He and his wife moved there, and, the daughter says, had the best 12 years of their lives, raising cows and sheep and chickens and crops, the dream of a lifetime. 

Here is Marianne, whose father bought the farm in New Brunswick

Here are Ann and Andy, who rode their motorcycle from north of Toronto

Here are three residents of Cow Head, who tell me that it is so windy in Newfoundland that everyone wore clothes with zippers. When I play into their hands and ask why, they say, "Because the wind will blow your buttons right off." 

Here's Melinda, who I see twice, once on my way to and once on my way from L'Anse Aux Meadows. She works in a gas station/grocery/convenience store, wears a ton of jewelry, and loves showing it off. People bring it to her from all over, she tells me. 

St. Andrews, 16x16

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SO WHAT'S NEXT? Next, you choose your paintings. 

BUT NOT RIGHT NOW! 

I will email you when it's time to pick your piece. It's great to think about your choice beforehand, and if you want to tell me, that's OK, too, but I won't be able to take that choice to heart until it's your time to choose. 

You can see all the paintings on the Newfoundland page on the Jacobson Arts website - https://www.jacobson-arts.com/newfoundland

Everyone chooses in the order in which they signed up, for the size painting they signed up for. As the choices are made, I'll move the paintings from the "available" grid to the "chosen" grid. 

If someone chooses the painting you want, I will paint it again for you! If you don't love any of the paintings, you may apply the $$ you paid me to any other painting I make in the next year or so, or to a piece I will make especially for you. If you are already on one of my installment plans, you may apply the money you paid me to your current bill. 

And if you have another situation or idea, please feel free to let me know. I'll do everything in my power to make you happy! 

***

THANK YOU, SPONSORS! Each and every one of you has helped make this trip possible, and fun. Thanks for your emails, support, encouragement, and of course, for your purchases. I take these trips because they make me happy, challenge me, help me grow as a painter and a person. Having you all with me enriches the experience enormously. 

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Dog of the Day

It's Lulu, center, and Koko, right, snuggling with me on the couch the day after I got home. 

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A Final Thought

"People don't take trips. Trips take people." 

- John Steinbeck