Paul Flinn’s Boathouse Illustrations

Passersby pause to photograph Rosslyn, especially the boathouse. It’s become a familiar affair over the years, though it took a little adjustment early on. If opportunity presents, we’re often asked questions. When was the home built? When was the boathouse built? What’s the history of the property? So often do people stop to look and take pictures that we don’t always notice. But ten years ago today I noticed when Essex neighbor, Paul Flinn, stopped just north of the boathouse.

As an admirer of old school Land Rovers, I recognized him climbing out and walking toward the boathouse staircase. And as an admirer of Paul Flinn’s captivating art — a unique style blending architectural rendering with the sort of evocative illustration I associate with children’s books — I recognized the possibility that he might be working on a representation of Rosslyn’s boathouse.

Sometimes my optimism pays off. In this next photograph, if you squint, and your eyes are really good, you might notice two boathouse illustrations framed together. Both were created by Paul Flinn.

Beneath Catherine’s creative rendering is a pair of Paul Flinn illustrations.

Mr. Flinn is an Essex resident and a world famous landscape architect. Designer of the Burlington Waterfront and other major projects, his drawings, large and small, perfectly capture a sense of place, its light, its angles and its shadows. (Source: Essex on Lake Champlain)

(Source: Time Capsules & Vintage Artifacts)

Let’s take a closer look. 

[This is] one of Paul Flinn’s architecturally evocative illustrations. Anyone who has had the opportunity to enjoy Mr. Flinn’s work, will share my wonder at his perfectly precise, representational drawings imbued with a romantic energy not unlike children’s book illustrations. (Source: Boathouse Rainbow)

Here is the other boathouse illustration.

If you study the admittedly poor quality photograph of Paul Flinn standing at the top of the staircase, and looking down at the boathouse, you just might notice that he is holding something in front of him. If you zoom in really close, you’ll see that it looks as if he is sketching. That would make sense, and this illustration, looking down from the top of the staircase, seems like the most likely result. The creative process at work and the creative work once the process is complete.

I’m reminded of another time Paul Flinn’s boathouse illustrations circled back to me.

The [first] image above, an illustration of Rosslyn’s boathouse by Essex resident, Paul Flinn, was documented by Tony Foster. Between upcycling garapa decking boards into distinctive wall paneling for Rosslyn’s icehouse rehab he popped into Essex Town Hall, spied this handsome architectural sketch, snapped a photo, and pinged it through the ether to me.

Collaborating with creative characters; emphasizing the merits and possibilities of adaptive reuse while repurposing collected curios, salvage, and surplus; and generally endeavoring to create an environment where “happy accidents and surreal collisions can best occur” just might be working. (Source: Creative Collisions & Happy Accidents)

Layers of inspiration and creativity, repurposing and adaptive reuse. Thank you, Paul Flinn for rendering Rosslyn’s boathouse with the same whimsical flair with which Susan and I conceive of it. And thank you for investing your creative gift in documenting this charming village with the curiosity, wonder, and affection that Essex has inspired for centuries. Your legacy is long and rich!