Marshfield Fair 2012

The Marshfield Fair comes to town for 10 days each August.  We love it and have volunteered for years in a variety of ways during the weeks prior to and including the Fair.  We find ourselves there almost every day, enjoying the lights, the pageantry, the sounds and smells, the people watching.

We spend a lot of time in Agricultural Hall, smack dab in the center of the fairgrounds.  Arts and Crafts are housed upstairs and Horiculture

is downstairs.  This year, I was scheduled for a painting demo upstairs, and chose the Arts and Crafts Shop. I love the majestic old building with its views of carnival rides and festivities out the windows.  

I have been bringing my sketchbook and will sit and draw while soaking up the atmosphere.  Whether I am sitting isolated on the rocks of a Maine Island, or amid the hubbub of our local country fair, I am blessed... 

 

"Good Day at the Office" 6 x 6 oil

 

My second in a series of fishing boats from this summer.  This is the "Susan A",  a work horse with salmon pink trim - quite a contrast.  This happened to be a crisp, dry day with calm seas and light breezes, a good day on the water, though I assume the catch is the true measure of what makes a "good day".

Thanks for looking.

 

"Evening Tide" oil painting 9 x 12 and goats

 Manana is the small island across from Monhegan which creates the sheltered harbor out here, 10 miles from the mainland.  Manana is visible from most vantage points on the west side of Monhegan.  Its lovely curves and angles have been painted by generations of artists including Rockwell Kent, Edward Hopper, Aldro Hibbard.  

I love watching the shadows appear on Manana midday, then creep down the sides, the ratio of light and shadow shifting as the afternoon progresses, until Manana is completely in shadow and the sun eventually sets behind it. "Evening Tide" was painted from Fish Beach late in the afternoon.  I was painting with my friend Marianne Buckley Curran, which is always a joy.

While I was painting, I looked up and saw the Manana goats aligned on Manana's peak.  The goats are a relatively recent addition to the tiny island.  I had a flashback to childhood when Johanna Spyri described Heidi sneaking soft rolls into her pinafore in Dusseldorf to save for Grandfather on the mountain...  what a great afternoon.

Monhegan Surf in process 12 x 9

 We are staying on Monhegan Island, Maine for our second week this summer. "What is the allure?"  some have asked us about this rustic destination where we have been blessed to spend time during each of the past nine summers?  I could expound for pages and pages, but will abbreviate with this: The island is a sumptuous feast for the senses.

Here is a painting I'm heading off to finish this afternoon when the tide is heading out.  I climbed over to a spot accessible only at tide 2/3 of its way out, and made a mental note to get out of dodge before the tide returns and cuts me off at the pass. (Don't know where the western metaphors are coming from)
    
I've been spending a lot of time again this trip in my sketchbook with pen and ink and watercolor... images for another post.

The second photo is our luggage in transit to the island a few days ago.  We pack in bins.  The bins are tucked under a tarp in the bow of the ferry... so much kinetic energy packed in plastic and duct tape.

Thanks for looking.