An afternoon in Shapleigh

My work keeps me pretty busy and it's interesting but I really look forward to my days off, especially when the weather is so nice. Steve needed photos of a new listing in Shapleigh so we made an afternoon of it.
While he was at the town hall gathering information I took Koda for a walk through the sweet park in the village center. I was surprised by a pair of handsome Canadian geese with a family of seven fluffy gray sygnets. Dad and mom walked toward me with threatening looks as I approached them for photos. You can see the pond and bridge in the photo of the geese. The gardens and gazebo are beautiful too. From the poo covered sidewalks I'd say they own the place for now.
When Steve finished we headed north to Limerick to pick up lunch, then we found a quiet lakeside spot on West Pond in Parsonsfield to eat.
The bottom photo is of old Mousam Grange which is across from the town hall and the park.
I'm inspired by the scenery in Maine and paint these places in my head..getting to the studio is quite another thing....

Scratching in the Dirt

Writing my statement has always been a problem and as my work evolves the statement should too. I'm in a transition period right now...kind of like closing one door behind me and slowly opening another, but not knowing what's on the other side. So I attended a small workshop to help artists define their statements...good timing.
It was very interesting to hear the statements of others and they all had a good handle on the reasons why they create or perform. When it was my turn to speak... I was stumped.

The conversations of that meeting churned through my head for several days while I tried to pin down verbally my own reason for painting.

I wondered...why are we so different than non artistic people and driven to express ourselves visually? Could it be that artists are closer kin to the individuals who painted animals on cave walls, or who carved the history of their civilization into stone and wood, or made up dances and music that told stories of important earthly events that would be passed down from generation to generation. Our earliest ancient human history has been preserved through those types of visual arts. It was all created by the artists of those times and predates the developement of the written word.

Just think..thousands of years ago, the first artist picked up a stick, scribbled a symbol into the dirt and communicated an idea to another human.

We, artists that is, are moved to communicate visually because there are elements of our existance that still can't be expressed through words. First pictures..then words.

My statement is starting to take shape..but sometimes..it feels like I'm just scratching in the dirt..

Pine Point Evening

I have to pinch myself when I realize what a beautiful state Maine is. Visitors from all parts of the globe come here every summer to enjoy the scenery that I live with every day. At times I must admit to taking this privilege for granted.
This painting is of the Scarborough River in Pine Point and the sandy coastline on the far side is called Ferry Beach. The beach is wall to wall people in summer but on the fall day that I took the photos for this the crowds were long gone. I loved the light of late afternoon and the three lobster boats lined up facing west. Scarborough River meanders inland through a protected conservation marsh that provides wetlands for thousands of creatures. Winslow Homer resided not far from here about a century ago and produced some of his most famous paintings inspired by the fishermen of his day.
This painting and others will be for sale during the Freeport Creative Arts First Annual Sidewalk Art Festival coming up on Saturday, August 2. My tent will be on the lawn of Harrington House, the Freeport Historical Society building, just two blocks south of L.L.Bean. Hope to see you there!
This is acrylic on 5 x 7 gallery wrapped canvas.