Miacomet Beach Book Introduction
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To me this location, Miacomet Beach, where we're sittin', is the most beautiful spot in the whole world.
The pond comes up and almost meets the ocean; only a hundred yards of beach separate the ocean from the pond.
Every year the town opens it up, drains it, and lets fresh seawater in to keep it healthy.
Look! Right over there is a little beach shack that I must have used in at least 30 different paintings. I do at least one painting a year of the beach here because it's my favorite place on the island.
Not only that but the fishin's pretty good here too and right down from here is the nude beach. You would be amazed at how many times the fish run down into that part.
If you're a good fisherman and those fish swim down toward the nude beach you just have to follow them don't you? And I am a good fisherman!
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I've been sitting here at Miacomet Beach on Nantucket Island, remembering all that's happened to me over the past thirty-five years. It's almost too much to comprehend.
There have been many people that had a part in who I am and what I've become today.
There were my benefactors Nelson Rockefeller and Roger Firestone, who supported my efforts to bring realism back to the art world.
Then there have been my three wives . . . so far; plus the many friends I've made since I began to paint.
Of course there's my family, my Dad 'The Hammer', my Mom, 'The Politician' both of whom encouraged my artistic career, and my brother Mike and sister Vicki too.
Plus there are all those Cromartie ancestors who passed on their stories, their land, and their genes, all of which inspired me and gave me the freedom to become an artist.
It's just overwhelming when I think back on all these people, and their stories. Well I guess I'll just have to tell you all about it.
For me as an artist, there are no prettier beaches than those of Nantucket, like this one. Here it's the combination of the pond and the ocean and the high dunes with that beach shack over there.
The intersecting dunes and the valleys and the beach grass, and in June there are flowers. Artistically it's like a feast. I guess you'd just have to see some of the paintings I've done of this spot.
You know that over the years I developed an artistic technique I call 'Hard-Edge Realism'. My paintings are actually more real than photographs; they capture an 'otherworldly' quality
that makes people want to step right into them. You'd just have to see some of the paintings I've done of this spot at Miacomet. They say a picture is worth a thousand words but with 'Hard Edge Realism'
that probably becomes two thousand words.
I've had friends come and go and I've had wives come and go but Nantucket for the last 35 years has been the one constant in my life. It took me a while to comprehend that Nantucket was my place.
I kept thinking, 'Oh I can't just keep going there, to Nantucket. I can live anywhere.' So I lived in Carmel in California, I lived over in Portugal, I lived in San Francisco.
I lived in the South, lived in Florida, lived in Old Town Washington. During the winter I'd try those different places. Then it dawned on me that the only place I really wanted to be was Nantucket.
I feel privileged to be able to live here and to be an artist and to stay here year-round because there's very, very few artists, guys or women, who've ever been able to accomplish that
and not have to do another job or have a spouse support them. To be totally self-supporting from your art work and living here year-round is a personal triumph. So, I'm a happy guy.
Sitting here at Miacomet Beach on this beautiful day let me tell you how it all began. No, wait. Let me paint a picture for you, a word picture, complete with the false starts, blemishes, and running pigments,
just like in a real painting. I'm warning you though; it's going be like a Nantucket Sleigh Ride back through time. It'll be like sitting in a whaleboat being pulled up the waves and down into the troughs,
not knowing what'll happen next. It'll cover the good things, the difficult times, and the rough spots.
I'll tell you how I stumbled into developing my super realistic style, and along with Rocky and Roger helped re-establish the credibility of realism in the art world.
But most of all I want to tell you about a lot of wonderful people, characters full of fun, many of whom are no longer here, but who still exert their influence on me.
So dig your beach chair into the white Miacomet sand, put up your umbrella and make sure you have enough sunscreen on your legs.
Just sit here with me for a while and let me paint you a realistic Nantucket Portrait using warm and cool colors just like I use in my paintings.
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