Reliquary: Ember and Wood at Silver Key Pass

Oil on Gallery Canvas

30” W x 40” H

Silver Key Pass on Sanibel Island is a place between places, where it is rough and wild, where birds find sanctuary for nesting, and where jutes of broken and bramble beach wood embed in the slick sand. This is a place that years ago was a great sand bank for this barrier island, although with strong storms, some even catastrophic, it now is a sliver of what it once was when I a child. I dreamed of mermaids and sirens in this place of birds and magic, a secret place where Sanibel Island whips around north toward Blind Pass, before Captiva Island, where my family would traverse through fast moving currents breaking into the littoral thread of high tide, where it was private and away from tourists.

The woman in the red dress sits like a guardian of the shoreline, holding a piece of driftwood that seems to hold stories of its own. There’s a harmony between the ember tones of her dress and the natural textures of wood and sand, echoing the resilience of the barrier islands. Her face is a blend of calm strength and introspection, inviting the viewer to reflect on both the natural world and the stories it holds.

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