Nils Leonhardt

“These Were Salt Marshes Before” (2024)

11in x 14in acrylic on recycled canvas

“These Were Salt Marshes Before” was submitted and accepted by the SAA for the 18th Inspired by the PEM show! The reception went really well. I gained a lot of insight speaking with various artists about their pieces and how 'Our Time on Earth' inspired them.

In the case of this piece, it is inspired by the instant sense of calm 'Our Time on Earth' presents as one enters the exhibit. It’s The first instruction for the exhbit is to stop and breath. As I did so, I imagined a time when the place I stood was a coastal wetland. An type of ecosystem which once thrived along the East Coast of North America, rich in biodiversity and crucial for the region's ecological balance. However, centuries of urbanization and industrialization have devastated these wetlands, with many drained, filled, or paved over for development. Pollution from urban runoff and industry has further harmed remaining habitats. Only fragments of wetlands remain, threatened by sea-level rise, erosion, and ongoing development. Despite these challenges, recognizing the importance of wetlands as barriers against extreme weather and climate change, as well as their role in carbon storage, offers hope for their preservation. Protecting and restoring coastal wetlands not only safeguards biodiversity but also aids in mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide, contributing to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this train of thought I was not plunged into the usual dread over the future of our planet. It speaks to to power of these exhibits (and to media as well) that can address the biggest issue on the planet but still have radical, thoughtful, careful hope.

Salt marsh in late winter

Blond Bodybuilder kayaking in the salt marshes of the Inner Banks of North Carolina.

Bing AI Image Create

South Carolina Lowcountry

Beloved to me

I love you salt marshes. I love you mudflats and salt pannes, and all the shorebirds that probe for invertebrates beneath your surface, leaving tracks behind. I love you anoxic sulfur-metabolizing bacteria. I love you Spartina patens, and a thundering dark sky against your windswept plain. I love you fish nursery habitat and wave energy absorber. I love you saltmarsh sparrows, even as you lose a race against time, and I am grateful to have looked into your eyes and seen unrelenting resilience there, confident you won’t go down without a fight. I love you mummichogs, pushing the limits of salt tolerance. I love you Salicornia, like neon pink Christmas trees. I love you mosquito ditch lines, visible reminders etched into your skin of how we have mistreated you and must do better. I love you, sense of serenity standing alone in your rustling grasses as the tide comes in, for a moment imagining the world as it once was, when you covered the whole coast and kept both land and sea bountiful and safe from harm. I love you, enough to work to restore your honor and dignity. I love you, I love you, I love you, salt marsh.

It’s Wednesday

and this is what I know:married thirty-one years,living in a place wherebeauty is everywhere,yesterday we drovefor just over an hourpast the salt marsheson the North Norfolk coast. In an ice-blue skylapwings flash wings;skeins of geese fly overheadand a variety of ducks glideacross the briny water below. It’s a landscape of shiveringbird calls, marsh birds pouringover reeds, birds settlingin…

View On WordPress

Salt Marsh Trail

harvest october 9

Deadwood, June 2020 Skidaway Island State Park, near Savannah, Georgia.

Cedar Key, FL

The salt marshes of Nelson’s Island, Rowley, MA. Taken in May 2021 on Fujifilm Superia

I love the contrast of the gray and green marsh grasses

Marshes @ Blakeney Norfolk by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: Blakeney National Nature Reserve to explore NT on the North Norfolk coast at dusk..

Sunset Can be Exceptionally Beautiful Over a Salt Marsh

Sunset Can be Exceptionally Beautiful Over a Salt Marsh shows readers a panoramic landscape view of a sunset over a Florida salt marsh. It tells the story of how the author/artist found the spot to take this shot.

Sunset Over the Marsh Last night I was headed home after a very nice day of visiting with my Mom and my youngest nephew. I was noticing that the evening sky was starting to look pretty colorful and I really wanted to go somewhere to watch it. Living in a wooded part of Florida can have its drawbacks when it comes to watching sunsets since to get the best view requires finding an open area. I was…

View On WordPress