Born in Buffalo, New York, Bernadette is aware of the long term measures to restore Lake Erie assisting in sustaining nature and its wildlife. A healthier Lake Erie flows through to Niagara River and charges over Niagara Falls, a true and natural wonder of the world.

These paintings are part of a series based on the estuaries and waterways of Rhode Island. With forty coastal miles, Rhode Island is named the Ocean State. Salt marshes such as Narragansett Bay Estuary and Allens Cove in Barrington are nurseries for fish and shellfish, providing spawning grounds and food sources for marine life and buffer coastlines from storm damage and erosion. Many birds and mammals thrive in this setting.

Seventy five percent of commercial fish depend on estuaries for their primary habitat, spawning grounds and nursery areas. These salt marshes are a natural system which filter pollutants out before they reach coastal waters.

Healthy marshes offer beauty and abundance in wildlife, enhancing water flow by filtering sediments, nutrients and heavy metals and toxins from upland runoff.

Quahog and oysters live beneath the surface while bluefish, tautog, scup, atlantic herring, stripped bass (Rhode Island’s state fish) hunt in creeks and ponds.

Menhaden, flounder, Black Sea bass spawn in this region eagle, hawk, heron, piping plover, roseate tern and osprey also thrive in these meadows, marshes and vernal pools near estuarine rivers and wetlands. Reptiles such as green sea and loggerhead turtle make these shallow bays their home.

For Coastal Impressions, Bernadette presents aerial views of the coastline and chasing to overlay typical local wildlife. She creates an atmospheric backdrop which gives the viewer a glimpse of a coastal world quietly and delicately thriving. These paintings are acrylic and watercolor on recycled paper and only using minimal primary colors.

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