This year I have set up quite the calender for myself. There are a few new location additions, such as Belfast in July and Bar Harbor in September. Also, I am excited to be participating in a new gallery this year, the Deer Isle Artist Association. There are so many new and exciting things going on this year. Be sure to check out my Events calender to see where I’ll be when you’re in town. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on the Green!
Spring is here and new work is being created everyday! I’m really excited about this new series I’ve started which incorporates mixed media techniques and gold leaf. What do you think?
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A portion of a sign from the Jordan Pond House
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Label on the sign blueprints
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Award won by George Dorr
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Happy, Happy New Year! I hope that your 2015 has started off with a bang. This year I have done away with resolutions and created goals. Ambitious ones at that 🙂
As an artist living in the Acadia region of Maine, the National Park is amazing part of my life. It offers so much to do and explore, with beauty compared only to the Garden of Eden. As I reflect on this, I have decided to celebrate Acadia National Park’s 100th birthday by creating 100 painting, to be ready for the 2016 celebrations.
The series will be called Century One: Acadia and the paintings that are created will be documented and discussed on the website. All the paintings will be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds going to Friends of Acadia, an amazing organization that helps to protect and preserve what we love most about Acadia. With this series, I will be digging deep in the the national park achieves to find interesting images and objects to bring to life in paint, to tell stories about Acadia from the past through to the present.
I am looking forward seeing what I find in the archives, sharing it with you and creating a fun project for us all to enjoy. I want this series to be interactive, so if you have any good ideas, feel free to drop me a line! And who knows, we may all learn something new in the process.
Looking for a little holiday cheer to brighten up your tree?
Beginning on Thursday, December 5th, Winter Harbor is holding their annual Holiday Shop Local Night, starting with the lighting of the tree. After that, head over to Schoodic Arts for All’s Schoolhouse location from 3pm -8pm for an Fine Art Market with local artists. We’ll have a amazing art and crafts, a band and refreshments for a little yule tidings.
And then on Saturday, December 6th from 10am-4pm you can find me at the Bay School in Blue Hill for their annual Winter Faire. Always a ton of fun with music, food, a farmers market, and fine art.
Hope to see you there!
With the holidays just around the corner, The Goat and I have a few ideas
for those hard to shop for friends and family members.
This year Moss Keep Studio has a collection of Christmas Cards
that can be framed after for the holidays, $17.
They come in a multi pack with four different areas depicted:
the Trenton Lobster Pound on a chart of MDI
the Buoy Tree on Turtle Island on a chart of Winter Harbor
the Largest Lobster Trap Tree on a chart of Beals Island, Jonesport area
and the Second Largest Lobster Trap Tree on a chart of Rockland
One of these sweet buoys painted in acrylic, accented in gold leaf, on canvas, 2″x 4″, $85
Custom Paintings can be made using the colors of the Lobsterman, or woman, in your life.
A Stunning Commission of your home, boat or favorite view on the chart of your area.
Everything is custom designed especially for the one you love.
Sizes range from 6″x8″ to full chart, with pricing starting at $600.
♥ So why not give them something they’ll treasure for many years to come ♥
On Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised with a visit from Alan deCheubell, my inspiration for the newest edition to the Maine Men Series, “Rowing Old Tyler”. After having read his story in the MDIslander last winter, I knew he would make a great edition to the series. Alan is a very skilled woodworker and craftsman living in Bar Harbor, known for his beautiful cabinets and furniture. Sadly, as he has gotten older his eye sight has started to fail. So to make the best of it, he decided to move away from the detail work and focus on a larger project, building a boat. His chose a Rangeley design that can either be sailed, rowed, or powered by motor. At the first launch, Alan christened it Old Tyler with a bottle of Moxie and set her out for a spin on Echo Lake. It is a beautiful boat and an even more wonderful story of perseverance and a passionate dedication. Plus, I love that he used Moxie instead of Champagne….very Maine. So needles to say, it was a pleasure meeting the man who helped make my painting come alive. Thank you, Alan.
This past week, I had three new commissions leave the studio. They were all so different, and I loved working on them all at the same time. Generally, I like to keep two to three Starboard Series paintings going at one time. I often find that if I get stuck on one painting I can move to the next one until I’ve figured out my next step for the one that stumped me. Helps me keep that creative flow.
The first one is called Bella Vista and Sea Safari. It was actually full chart size, however I only took an image of the painted area so it could be seen more easily. The clients wanted their boat heading to their dock, with a view of their property and an icon to locate their home on the Sound. Also, a special request was made to incorporate their pooch, Beau. Love that he’s a boat dog! The next was Kayaking to the Seals in Bar Harbor. This one was given as a gift so they could remember the time they spent in Bar Harbor. It turns out kayaks are quite popular and has inspired me to do more kayak paintings. The last one is Lady Lauren. A classic lobster boat with big waves – love painting these. Any time I can paint big waves it’s a fun time. All of the images were taken in the studio as preview images.
This past February, I escaped the Maine winter and got married! After a two year engagement, Ryan and I have finally tied the knot in Roatan, Honduras. It was a gorgeous day shared with family and friends on a tiny Caribbean Island called Little French Key. After the ceremony we took our guests on a catamaran sail and snorkel for the reception with a second line to dinner after. I could not have asked for a more amazing time. Thank you all for the well wishes Ryan and I have received. We are over the moon 🙂 Here are a few pictures from our special day, all taken by our amazing photographer, Leonardo Melendez.
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Hello Everyone! I am getting very excited about showing at the Gifted Hand: Fine Art, Craft and Gift show in Ellsworth this Friday and Saturday! This is one of my favorite shows of the season. There are so many wonderful artisans that come from all over New England just to show their work at this show. The show starts Friday, November 8th at 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and goes until Saturday, November 9th 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. I am very please to say that I will have a few new pieces for the show and will also be selling my Lobster Trap Christmas Cards again this year. For more information on the show, please check out the Gifted Hand website.
Thank you to everyone who came out to see me at SALT in Bar Harbor. I enjoyed getting a chance to speak with everyone and share with you a little bit about my work. Here is a picture Melissa snapped while I was busy sewing in some barnacles on my new Maine Man, Alan. I am hoping to have him all finished up this week and headed back over to SALT. Thanks again for making my first First Friday Art Walk a success!
Wow, it seems that the summer is just flying by! I am still in the mist of creative chaos, but will be making some exciting new posts soon to catch you up on all the fun I’ve been having in and out of the studio. But for now, I wanted to let you know that I will be the feature artist this month at SALT: A Maine Boutique, located at 2 Derby Lane in Bar Harbor. This is an exciting new store that focuses primarily on Nautical themed art and decor inspired by Maine. I will be there to talk with people about my work on Friday, September 6th from 6-9pm for the First Friday Art Walk wine and cheese reception. I am very much looking forward to this event and seeing some of you out and about. I am also excited to say that I will have some new work on display. There is a new addition to the Maine Men Series, as well as 5 new buoys and a new painting from the Starboard Series.
For more information on SALT, you can take a look at their FB page – SALT: A Maine Boutique. I look forward to seeing you there!
Recently, my family and I were able to set sail on the Lewis H. Story, thanks to the Mount Desert Island Historical Society. But first, a little back story about the Lewis H. Story –
In 1762, Abraham Somes, his wife Hannah, and four young daughters, Hannah, Patty, Lucy, and Prudence, sailed from Gloucester, Mass., in a Chebacco boat. They were pioneers in the settlement of Mount Desert Island. With the support of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Massachusetts, the Mount Desert Island Historical Society recreated that early voyage aboard the Lewis H. Story, an authentic reproduction of a thirty-two-foot Chebacco boat, a common working vessel of the 18th and 19th centuries. The Lewis H. Story was built in 1998 at the historic Essex shipyard of Harold Burnham.
The Lewis H. Story was docked at Clifton Dock in Northeast Harbor and we set out on a 3 hour sail past Bear Island Lighthouse and Sutton Island, then circled back. The masts were solid wood and larger round than any I’ve ever seen. The cabin quarters were very tight and basic. It was amazing to think that 6 people, cows and sheep were all able to travel together in this wooden boat from Massachusetts to Maine. Here’s a link to some other fun photos of her time in town – The Lewis H. Story – and some more information from the Essex Shipbuilding Museum.
Thank you to everyone who visited me out on the green in Bar Harbor this past weekend! I saw a lot of new faces as well as many of my past clients. It was such a pleasure speaking with everyone about the new work. There were a bunch of new pieces that I revealed for the first time at the show and many of them are already gone! I was so excited that I called Ryan, my fiance, and he joked that he’d refill my paint water cup so I’d be ready to roll in the studio when I got home. Ironically, that’s exactly what I did! Usually I relax after show days. They can really take a lot out of ya. But not this past one! I was all charged up when I got back. There’s a sayin’ down south, “when the summertime’s here, ain’t no time for honky tonkin’, Cher!” Got to get down to business.
Soon I will be posting a glimpse of some of the new works. I will label the sold ones as well as the available ones. Hope you like what you see!
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