One of my reigning motivators is providing a tangible sense of place in my work. Our lives take place largely online and when we can exist everywhere, we lose a connection to where we actually are. Historically, landscape painting granted access to locales in a world with limited means of travel. Now there is no part of the world left untouched, but we still face the same issue of limitation. Not because the paths are inaccessible, but because we no longer walk them a meaningful way.

I’ve spent my life walking dirt roads, climbing dunes, and squeezing through fences to explore an island. Repeatedly rendered in my paintings is the strip of bay that separates the shores of Fire Island and Long Island. The scene is a meditation on my time spent in this place as life brought obstacles and growth, hurt and healing. I paint this spot from my studio 3000 miles away because by capturing this island, a landscape etched so deep in my psyche, I can try to understand how it relates to my existence and identity.

Charlotte Lethbridge