"Lighthouse Hill" 6 x 4 watercolor and ink

 From my sketchbook tonight, a quick drawing  of the path up to the lighthouse on Monhegan, and the same sketch with some color added.  I like them both, but enjoy looking at the progression from first to second with the light turned on.   The hill is a short, steep climb up a twisting dirt road, and then the world opens up with the village and Manana below, and the mainland 12 miles distant.  Doesn't matter if the day is clear or cloudy, calm or windy, arrival on the hill is wonderful.  And, the Lighthouse Museum is fascinating.  I visit every summer, and always find a favorite among the exhibited work and artifacts.  One year, there were several of Kent's small, sensitive sepia ink and water sketches... stopped me in my tracks.  
Can't wait to see what's up there this coming summer.  

Thanks for looking, and anticipating with me.

 

"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.

Rockwell Kent, Monhegan, "Quiet Bell" 10 x 8 oil

 

While painting by the lighthouse on Monhegan one solitary, foggy morning this summer, I met an engaging twenty-something woman who had just hiked up that steep hill.  I admired her Rockwell Kent T-shirt, Moby Dick, I think.  We struck up a conversation and I learned that she was Rockwell Kent's great-granddaughter, on a day trip as part of her quest to follow in his footsteps. She spent a great day seeing the houses he built, and visiting the museum where they showed her the works in the archives donated by Kent himself.  You meet the most interesting people painting!  Adjacent is my painting from that morning.