Old Shoe

Arctic air has slipped into Maine and that means we have to face the fact that winter is just around the corner. It's not such a bad thing especially for a painter like me who loves to work in a nice warm studio as I did tonight .

Anyway..now that it's getting colder and all the "people from away" have hightailed it back to the city we Mainers have a chance to enjoy the scenery again..without getting stuck in lines of traffic, and fighting crowds everywhere. The light now is very intriguing too and casts a rosy glow with long shadows in the afternoon. Compound that atmospheric phenomenon with deserted summer homes and cottages and I find great subjects to paint.

This neat little place is on a favorite lake of ours and caught my eye while Steve and I were headed to one of his real estate jobs. I love the roof shape, the tidiness of it and the trees. Even the propane tanks provided inspiration with dappled sunlight hitting them just so. There was an old sneaker laying in the sand in front of the cottage..but I chose not to paint it. The deep snow will cover and protect it and it'll probably be there next summer when the owners come back, just like the old cottage.

This is acrylic 12 x 15

Autumn Tapestry - Campobello

Several years ago Steve and I decided to take a
fall trip to northern Maine. I've written about it in previous blogs. In middle October we headed up the coast and made a late afternoon detour onto Campobello Island in Canada, which is across the bridge from the village of Lubec.
As it turns out it was the last day that the famous summer cottage owned by President Franklin Roosevelt was open to the public. We arrived late and had only a short time to see it all before the staff closed it up for the season. We were surprised at it's unpretentious size and furnishings.....and it's remote location. The cottage is not an easy destination even today, but in Roosevelt's time a ferry had to transport them across the bay because there was no bridge from Lubec to the island. After our hurried tour of the camp we drove around the island knowing there was only about an hour's worth of light left. Except for a few local families who remain there year around the island was deserted. We felt quite alone, but the autumn light cast a beautiful warm glow on everything..it's a spellbinding time of day and season ...and it seemed that we had the whole island to ourselves .
The narrow winding road took us through a little village where we stopped to take photos of this abandoned old farm. It stood precariously close to the road which wound around the corner and up over another hill behind it. The building appeared to be disintegrating into the ground and looked as though it would fall in at any time. We wondered what life had been like there when the place was built long ago. Across the road and out of frame was a cove with an old wharf and a view of Eastport across the bay. The former owners had been fisherman no doubt. Winters there must have been a challenge but just then, at that moment, the spot was lovely and so peaceful...It was easy to understand Roosevelt's affection for a place like this in summer.