Friday, August 21, 2009

Tied Up


I've been busy working on a small series of paintings for the Skyline Farm and Carriage Museum fall exhibition and this year the show is titled, "Cornucopia -Maine Harvest from Land and Sea".
I returned to a subject matter that I started a few years ago about a lobsterman from Cliff Island, named Bill O'Reilly.
The Lobstering Industry here in Maine is going through very tough times with government regulations squeezing many out of business and lobster prices at an all time low. The situation is tense in some coastal areas and violence among the fishermen has been reported. ..This is life or death for the men and women who earn a living on the sea and now feel that their livelihood may be slipping away.
The show, which opens at the end of September, is a great opportunity to feature someone like Billy doing what he knows and loves so much...lobstering. Joann Lapomarda, who is Billy's long time partner and sometime Sternman, will be collaberating with me on a statement about their experiences for the show catalog. Some of the photos used as reference material for this work were also taken by Joann.
I'm particularly excited for a another reason as well. Included in this exhibit are many of Maine's finest crafts people. I'll talk more about the show exhibitors in my next blog..so stay tuned...
This painting is acrylic 30 x 24 gallery wrap canvas and will be available through Skyline.

5 comments:

delia said...

Beautiful painting Karen! love the composition, style and colors..

ang foley said...

Hi Karen,

I'm Bobby's oldest daughter. It's a lovely piece you painted of Uncle Billy. I would love to make it to the show in September. I applaude your applying your talents to bring to light the struggles of this industry. Thank you.

Best,

Ang Foley

Angela Blais said...

Hi Karen! I was both excited and pleased to hear from Joann that you were coming back to thoughts about Cliff Island and the struggles of lobster fishing. I love the painting of Billy tying up at the dock, and look forward to hearing the response to your work at the show.
-Angela Blais

klp said...

Thanks everyone. I couldn't have done this series if it hadn't been for my friend Angela who invited me to to tag along on a trip to Cliff Island about ten years ago.
...It was a beautiful December day almost ten years ago but I'll never forget it.

klp said...

OOPs..sorry about the redundancy there..getting old..repeating myself!Take care..K