Jill Bates, A DAY AT THE BEACH, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches unframed, $1,000
Though some boaters may have less flattering names for them, the five birds in Jill Bates’ “A Day at the Beach” are double-crested cormorants. “It’s the bird everyone hates because they poop on the boats,” the artist says. “It’s a sad thing that they’re so not liked — they’re so beautiful and very social. They’re so graceful in the water and when they dive. I love to see them sitting on the back end of someone’s dory, eating a fish or whatever.”
Jill, who lives in Cotuit, enjoys watching cormorants swimming or sitting on rafts off Sampson’s Island or in Osterville’s North Bay: They’re very prevalent in the area. But she chose a beach as the setting for this painting in order to accentuate their slender bodies and, especially, the exquisite interplay of their sinuous black necks against a simple background. She also hoped to humanize the bird a bit — to make it more sympathetic — by playing up its social nature. “It was really fun to capture a feeling of camaraderie and some kind of expression,” she says. “We do try to impose these human qualities on animals.” See more of Jill Bates’ unique point of view