On August, when Sonny and I were on Roanoke Island, at the Outer Banks of North Carolina for an art show in the little town of Manteo, we decided to take a ride after the show. We rode down to the end of the island to the fishing village of Wanchese. It was full of old fishing warehouses, boats and ships every where you looked, crab "pots", and fishing nets. There was even a "graveyard" of sorts for old ships! Very interesting place. I decided to walk around a little while Sonny sat in the car, as it was too hot for Sonny to be in the sun. It was then that I spotted the old, beat-up looking, "Capt. Porgy".

What character that boat had! I bet it could tell some tales of fishing during "Nor'Easters", (hurricanes), in the Gulf Stream, just out in the Atlantic Ocean off of the Outer Banks! This area is not called the, "graveyard of ships", for nothing! Anyway, tied-up right across from the Capt. Porgy, was a pretty little cabin-cruiser called the, "Janis Ann". As I watched, crusty old Capt. Porgy floated next to Janis Ann.  I swear, it looked like he was flirting!  It  also looked like Janis Ann  liked it! I had to paint it!

A little history of the area: The village of Wanchese, and Roanoke Island itself, is between the mainland and the Outer Banks of North Carolina east coast. Roanoke Island is where the famous, "lost colony" was, when the first settlers arrived, and some disappeared, no one knows what happened to them! There is an outdoor playhouse that re-inacts the drama all summer. It's very good, we reccomend it highly! Local folks are the actors. Native son, actor Andy Griffith got his start years ago acting in it. He still lives on the island today.

Oregon Inlet allows access to and from the Ocean. Oregon Inlet divides the islands of Nags Head and Cape Hatteras. Nags Head, it is thought, got it's name from "wreckers", who in the early years of this country, walked an old horse, "nag", up and down the beach in storms. They tied a lantern to the horse's neck. The ships at sea thought it was a lighthouse, and came too close to dangerous rocks and shoals. When they wrecked, the "wreckers" waited until the storm passed, then robbed the ships of anything they could, plus collected whatever floated up on shore! There are great sand dunes just down the beach at, Kill Devil Hills. This is were the famous duo of, Wilber and Orville Wright flew an airplane for the first time!

On Cape Hatteras, just past the Oregon Inlet Bridge, there is a lighthouse called, Bodie Island Light. Most people don't know to pronounce it, "body". It is said this is where the bodies floated after a ship was wrecked! At the very tip of Cape Hatteras, just past the famous lighthouse of the same name, lies another, smaller island. It is the island of, Okrakoke, accesible only by ferry. At the far end  was the hideout of the infamous pirate, John Teache, aka: "Blackbeard"! There are also wild ponies who roam freely, decendents from horses being transported to the, "New World", victims of ancient shipwrecks, all up and down these islands to Maryland's outer islands!

The Bible Scripture title on this painting is:

"....and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets."

- Luke 5: 2