New Heaven from Old Haven – Sunset, Saturday, 22 June 2013

William Van Doren, NEW HEAVEN FROM OLD HAVEN. Sunset from Old Haven Beach, Mathews County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

From Old Haven Beach, near Mathews, Virginia, where my family used to go camping in fairly primitive style every summer. Now called South Haven; maybe someone didn’t want an “old” beach. My parents also honeymooned there, so ... it’s old enough.

Barrier Islands (Sunset, Thursday, 17 February 2011)

William Van Doren, BARRIER ISLANDS (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

A soft mild evening that somehow reminded me of the beach.

Sunset, Saturday, 26 December 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Painted at Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

We managed to get out today after seven days of being snowed in. While we were traveling around the roads and parking lots lined with dirty snow and slush, the sky made me think about the beach in L.A. A strange thing about a city that borders the ocean is that no matter who you are or where you live or how you stand in that city, when you get to the edge, that ocean is yours as much as anyone’s.