Island Homeowners Find Artistic Inspiration

The natural beauty of Bald Head Island is a blank canvas for artists. With brilliant sunsets, a lush maritime forest, sightings of painted buntings and miles of shore line, inspiration abounds. So it’s no wonder that when the owners of Watch Hill were presented with a blank wall in their island home, a spark of creativity and love for the island led to a family painting competition.
The competition started with no more than an empty wall and three blank canvases. The family split into three teams—husband, wife, and daughter and boyfriend—to find inspiration and create their masterpieces.

The results were as impressive as they were varied. The Glugrious Battle of New Baldhi is a classical Indian tiger hunt scene painted by the daughter and her boyfriend. The painting is a lighthearted underwater take on a hunting theme, with animals like elephants and tigers replaced by giant clams and sharks. The husband’s Four Sand Bars Viewed from Under the Cape Fear River is a perspective piece seen from the floor of the Cape Fear River based on The Night Hunt by Paolo Uccello. The wife submitted Creek View, which portrays the glorious colors and arcs of Cape Creek at sunrise.

Each painting was judged by consensus, then placed in the home according to the respective areas that highlighted the essence of the work. The home’s décor already features art of friends and family, including work from the late George Graves, Stacie Speer Scott, Charles Anderson Farrell, David Walser and Carlo Uccello. The family’s art rounds out the collection and adds a personal touch.

Bald Head Island draws thousands a visitors a year; some find the history interesting, others are drawn to the beach and some find refuge in seclusion from mainland life. Whatever the reason for the visit, Bald Head Island brings out the artist’s muse. If your next visit involves an overnight stay, perhaps you will fall in love with the wind, waves, natural beauty, quiet surrounds and the special dark nights just as the owners of Watch Hill have. Watch Hill welcomes guests to cultivate creativity, whether one is an artist, poet, writer, philosopher, pantheist, dilettante, or an individual simply seeking restoration and renewal. Any which way, the home’s position overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Maritime Forest is sure to inspire.

Published on Thursday, August 29, 2013