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Maine
Statement
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During
summer painting and camping trips in Maine, I have concentrated upon the
landscape of Acadia National Park and its northern branch at Schoodic Peninsula.
On such trips, I begin painting at day break and work well into the evening,
recording subtle changes in light and color brought about by changing atmospheric
conditions and different times of day.
I could not create
the studio paintings without the primary experience and connection with
the environment created through on-site painting. |
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| Mark Island Light, detail of on-site sketch, transparent watercolor
on tinted indian village rough watercolor paper |
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| The Gull, on-site sketch, transparent watercolor on whatman watercolor
paper, private collection, GA |
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| For me, one of Maine's
primary aesthetic appeals as a painting subject is the quality of light
found along the coast. Light reflects from and through water,
lingering in the air and changing with moisture levels. Light ranges
from the glow of a fog bank ("Weak Sunlight and Fading Fog, West Quoddy
Head Light"), to an over-all pearly luster that softens and disguises forms
("Sailboats in the Mist"), and to the sharp edged color saturation of a
clear day ("Winter Harbor Afternoon"). |
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AcadiaFog 1 (view over Frenchman Bay towards Mount
Desert), on-site sketch,
transparent watercolor on rough whatman watercolor paper |
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Since as a medium,
transparent watercolor is about light reflecting through veils of color,
the Maine coast offers a wonderful, forever changing opportunity for my
watercolor paintings. |
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| Maine's Schoodic Peninsula is home for a number of lobster
and fishing villages. Winter Harbor, a small town on the north of
Frenchman Bay, is one of the largest. Most of my recent Maine paintings
focus upon Winter Harbor: its water and rocks, boats and people,
light and life. |
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| In these works, man-made structures (such as boats) have
in a sense replaced the granite coast found in my earlier Maine paintings
(compare "Acadia Fog II" and "Winter Harbor, Late Evening Shadows"). |
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Before the Race (Winter Harbor), on-site sketch, transparent
watercolor on hot pressed whatman watercolor paper |
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| The seductive curves of fishing and
lobster boats offer colors and arcing reflective planes I use to break
up areas and intensify compositions. They also increase the psychological
edge of the paintings, and offer a more unified view of people's place
within the coastal environment. |
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When the paintings are viewed together, they offer a
visual contemplation of the Maine coast and of Winter Harbor as I experienced
it. This is why I say my work is, inherently, extremely subjective. |
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| The Red Boat, on-site sketch, gouache on whatman watercolor board |
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Reproduction
rights to all images and text are reserved by the artist.
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Southwest
Gallery |
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Maine
Gallery |
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Jerusalem
Gallery |
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Northern
California
Gallery |
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Other
Paintings |
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Background
Information |
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