Shelter Cove is only a 30 minute drive heading west from Holbrook’s homestead. In the summer it’s the best place to beat the inland sweltering heat and in March you can see whales migrating north. It was the place he took his kids frequently for fun family outings. The rugged cliffs and crashing waves provided decades of subject matter for Peter’s paintings.
Shelter Cove’s black sand beaches are a testament to the area’s volcanic history. One could spend hours on the beach sifting through the rocky black sand for seashells and the best smooth black stones, (sedimentary greywacke rock) many of which had inlay patterns of white quartz. The mountainous terrain and ocean cliffs are roughly 90% Tertiary-Cretaceous coastal bedrock, 8% Franciscan Assemblage Complex (greywacke sandstone and shale) and 4% Pliocene and Paleocene marine microfossils.
Shelter Cove has restaurants, a general store, boat launch, camping, lodging and Airbnb rentals. It also has a 9 hole golf course and a one runway airstrip. The Sinkyone and King Range Wilderness are great places to hike and explore.
Every spring the Bureau of Land Management, Friends of the Lost Coast and the Shelter Cove Arts and Recreation Foundation join together to sponsor a 4 week Artist in Residence program for one lucky individual. In February artist’s of all mediums can apply and the selection is made at the end of March. The goal is for the artist to explore the King Range and Lost Coast areas to gain a deeper understanding of our public lands. Their experience will then be translated and expressed through the artwork they create.
In 1978 Peter painted Kelp Flats 1. This would be his first painting from Shelter Cove. The painting measured 70 x 84, which is quite an impressive size for a subject matter he had never painted before. By 1980 Peter was working in watercolor and acrylic on paper. Over the years he traveled to other Pacific Ocean locations at Trinidad, Mendocino, Point Lobos, Point Reyes and Santa Cruz in California, Brookings, Oregon (Harris Beach) and the Hawaiian Islands.
There are a few framed ocean paintings left for sale. They are:
Shelter Cove 2001 44 x 60 O/C Holbrook Studio
Sea Mist at Abalone Point 2008 18x24 O/C at Calabi Gallery Santa Rosa, Ca (707) 781-7070
Cove Fog Burning Off 2008 24x18 O/C at Calabi Gallery
Stone Bridge at Mendocino 2001 7x 9.8 O/P at Art Center Space Eureka, CA (707) 443-7017
Study for Lost Coast Twilight 2009 10x15 O/P Art Center Space Eureka, CA