Cutting Grasses at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum

This is a studio painting that had a parent of a small plein air painting of the little building with the yellow boat. I'd also done one of the buildings at the right. As I had started it, the museum docent, Justin, came out and started cutting the grasses I was working on. So I moved and redid the small one but I always wanted to make Justin's cutting down my grasses famous! This view of an everyday chore at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum is low key, but the scene has held 300 years of activity, since over 400 wooden schooners were launched here and the area abounds with artifacts from the era. The museum is a living one, where people still build traditional boats and school children are taught how to do it. It remains one of my favorite places to paint.