daily paintings

Rock Hop Sparkle • 6×6 • oil on wood • $125 • purchase link

We’ve had more winter the past 2 weeks than we had the past 4 months and it has had me daydreaming of warmer days and rock hopping adventures. I can’t wait to sit on the warm granite rocks and dip my feet in the cold, cold water and just soak up the sparkles and magic of the sun on the water. Ahhhhh! But in the mean time, I’ll shovel the fluffy white stuff. 🙂

Climbing Up • 6×6 • oil on panel • $125 • purchase link

I’ve been feeling a little weighed down and defeated with a relapse of an eye issue I had in January and I’ve been dreaming of the woods. I love this path that winds up to a bright opening with a vista full of beauty and light. I’m climbing up! I can see the light! 🙂

Sailing into Spring • 6×6 • oil on panel • $125 • purchase link

Spring Daffodils • 6×6 • oil on panel • $125 • purchase link

Spring is here even though we just had our biggest wintery storm of the season … 6 inches of snow followed by an inch or so of ice and lots of devastation and power outages! And even with the white stuff on the ground there are signs of Spring everywhere. Today I decided to 2 paint of my favorite Springtime things … sailing classes on Casco Bay and daffodils. They both bring me so much joy. The little racing boats are out even though it doesn’t look like they should be — and I love watching them move back and forth in front of the Casco Bay Islands. And of course, the yellow cheer of daffodils is pure sunshine. We have a bunch of pots of them in the house and they are starting to pop up in garden beds too, Such a treat. Yay for Spring!

Summer Day Shacks • 24×24 • oil on canvas • $925 • purchase link

Peaceful Moon Shacks • 36×24 • oil on canvas • $1325 • purchase link

Forever Shacks • 24×24 • oil on canvas • $925 • purchase link

It’s been fun for me to revisit all of my photos and memories of the fishing shacks at Willard Beach that I’ve collected over the years. The fishing shacks were the first Maine landmark I fell in love with when we moved here in 1999. We would walk our pups on Willard and explore the shacks and admire them from all angles. So special. So missed.

Ever since we all watched the shacks get swept away in the devastating January storms I have been obsessed with revisting them in paint, and while I was under the weather for 6 weeks at the beginning year, I didn’t have the energy to get out my bigger canvases and paint them … but now I do. The 9 small paintings I did last month were the perfect thing to get my wheels turning for some larger works and for smaller some studies too. I’ve been playing with some gouache, watercolors and watercolor crayons and have a couple of older block prints as well. Enjoy!

All Fishing Shack paintings available HERE

And I am still planning to do some shacks notecards and or a calendar with proceeds going to coastal support organizations, It may take me a little while, but it will happen. 🙂

Rocky Shore • 6×6 • oil on wood • $125 • purchase link

Today I just felt like getting lost on the rocky shore of the Maine coast. I took myself back to some late afternoon rock hopping on Lane’s Island and it was so fun. So many colors to take in and so many gorgeous shapes. I love the rocks and I especially love the mound of greenery with the pine trees poking up.

We lost our iconic fishing shacks to a storm and record breaking tides last month. They were washed into the ocean. The footage of them getting battered and finally surrendering to the sea brought tears to my eyes. As a painter, I get so attached to places and landmarks, and the fishing shacks on Fishermans Point at Willard Beach have long been a favorite subject matter of mine. If I had to guess, I’d say that I have painted them over 100 times. I have always loved their shape and the way they sit perched on the small bluff at the end of Willard Beach and at the edge of the channel coming into the Portland Harbor. The views of the shacks themselves and the views from them of the surrounding islands and lighthouses are quintessential Maine. They will be missed by many.

I spent some time going through all of my photos of the shacks and playing in my sketchbook and finally creating some special little paintings of them. It felt good to visit them in my memory and with my brush. I hope to do a couple of larger pieces and a few works on paper, but for now, I’m sharing this little series of 6x6s.

I plan to make some notecards or a calendar with some of these images and donate a portion of the proceeds to support our coastal communities that were impacted by these January storms and extreme high tides.

Sunny Day • 6×6 • oil on wood • $125 • purchase link

The sun has been shining bright the past few days and it got me thinking about my sunny autumn walks on Vinalhaven. On this particular day I hopped down to the shore to check out the view of a tidal inlet and the sun was beaming down on the water and the trees. It was magic!

Morning Light • 6×6 • oil on wood • $125 • purchase link

Here’s my last January Eastern Prom painting looking out at Fort Gorges. I walk our pups down here every morning and it’s always a treat to feel those first rays on your face. This was a cold morning prior to our snowfalls and I love how the bare and frozen ground glows in shades of red and orange.