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.