Day 290 - "From the Harbor - Two Views" watercolor and ink

There has been intermittent sun during our first five days on Monhegan Island, fog, rain, sun, clouds, wind... beautiful New England weather.  And, we can hear the surf from the south end of the island, crashing into Christmas Cove due to the weather.  My new knee won't carry me that far yet, but I am determined to visit my favorite spot before we finish our two weeks.  This morning I could see the waves crashing against the southern tip of Manana, Monhegan's tiny island neighbor that provides the sheltered harbor here.  I walked down to the rocks, found a place to perch, and spent some of my favorite type of time here on Monhegan, surrounded by the sounds, smells, occasional spray and the view of wave upon wave crashing and tumbling over one another.  The first is a watercolor of the southernmost end of Manana and the rock called "Washerwoman".  For the second, I turned to my right from the same seat, and drew the village in the distance beyond the rocks and scrubby vegetation on the shore.  Interestingly, the vegetation seemed to come in three  distinct layers as it receded.  First, some small, low plants that looked like they may have had berries on them at one time, then Queen Anne's Lace with some beach grasses, then some yellow-topped weeds, among a different beach grass.  I added color only in the vegetation, and like the effect.
This is my two hundred ninetieth consecutive day drawing and posting. Thanks for following along.   

"Salt, Sea, Sun" 6 x 6 oil

This month's Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge was "ritual".  Usually, when I hear the challenge, a thought jumps into my head... not this time.  I mulled over daily rituals, the difference between "ritual" and "routine". Then I thought about annual rituals, seasonal, occasional.  We read "Night Before Christmas" every Christmas Eve and each open one gift, a ritual my family has carried over from my home as a child.  Yes, we use the Arthur Rackham illustrated version of the poem. His illustrations are beautifully eerie and convey the magic of that night.

Back to ritual...  My conclusion is that there is something spiritual, or centering, grounding, about ritual vs routine.  One dictionary definition is "a ceremonial act or a series of such acts".  I love to rise earlier than my family on weekends, sit with coffee and my book on the porch - that's a ritual.  I feed the kittens, and provide fresh water each day - more of a routine. The idea of spirituality and centering brought to mind my annual summer sojourn to the rocky coast of Monhegan, where I sit on the rocks, surrounded by sea, salt, and the sun, painting what I hear, taste, smell, and see and even touch.  It is a ceremony, a ritual, in which I joyfully participate. 

   Here are the other GJWP challenge entries.  Check out these interesting and varied takes on "ritual".  

As always, thanks for looking.  Love to read your comments.

"Under Sail" oil 6 x 6

Our most recent Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge was based on this line from the e.e. cummings poem "Maggie and Milly and Molly and May" -

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) 

it's always ourselves we find in the sea." 

 

I have spent much of my life (so far) living near the sea, love the scents, the breeze, the sounds.  As a child, we had a summer house on a Cape Cod bay.  The first few years we owned it, before high school sports, and jobs, and schedules won out with their relentless demands and interruptions, we went to the house every weekend.  There would be a loud and frenetic packing of the station wagon each Friday afternoon and we'd head off on the hour+ drive down and over the bridge, with a quick stop at the A&P on the rotary just before the Canal.  We'd spend the weekend, playing cards, doing jigsaw puzzles, walking the beach, fishing, even playing an expanded game of hide and seek which took us, and invited friends, through yards, over shed roofs, under porches of the empty-for-the-winter cottages in the neighborhood.  We would enjoy a roast beef and potato dinner on Sunday night and pile back into the car, sleepy-eyed at 6AM Monday for a rapid drive back north, us tumbling out of the car into the school yard (in our plaid uniforms) as the bell was ringing to begin the day.

  

Now that I have my own family, I realize what coordination was involved to get a family of seven packed, and organized for these wonderful weekends.... resulting in two full days on the Cape!  I spent hours sitting on the end of the dock, feeling it float with the waves, listening to the creaks and groans of boats tugging at moorings, buoys, watching gulls drop shellfish on the wharf, listening to the lapping waves and enveloping myself if the sensory joy of the sea.  This month's challenge brought back those memories.  My painting conjures up that sea-air-in-the-face feeling that I crave when I'm away from the sea too long. 

Thanks for looking; feel free to share.

 

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.

"Outside the Box" or "Shhh - It's a Secret"

North River Arts Society is holding its Outside the Box fundraiser again this summer.  Adjectives:  creative, fun, affordable, fascinating, exciting, mysterious, surprising, eclectic, diverse...                                       Background:  Artists and friends of North River Arts Society were invited to create a 8" x 8" works, in a different medium and/or style from their norm.  The works are displayed by number only (no names attached, no signatures) for a 3-week long silent auction.  Bidding on each piece (and there are hundreds of them) begins during the opening party on August 11 7-10pm and bidding continues through August 31st at noon.  The exhibit then stays up for another week with the artists' names revealed.  Prepare to be surprised.

The first year, I painted the honey bears above, which now live in New York City. As an oil painter, the medium was no different, but the subject matter was a big change, and in doing the painting I discovered my love of kitsch as subject matter. (I just looked up the definition of "kitsch" -

something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste.)  Can't say I completely agree with the definition... I firmly believe that some things are so kitschy they cross back over into beautiful and can become iconic, and it takes extraordinarily discriminating taste to see that inner beauty.  I have a number of them in my studio, but that's for another time.

The next year, I used pen & ink, watercolor, gold pen, and colored pencil to sketch the waves shown here as my entry. That piece lives in the next town over.

This year's entry is a secret until August 11th when all will be revealed (except the artist names).  All I can say is I went completely Outside the Box, and enjoyed the results so much, I'm planning to work more with this new exploration ... hmmmm.    

 

           

Monhegan Surf and a request

 During the summer, I teach a couple of weeks of Art Studios for Children at North River Arts Society in Marshfield, MA.  Last week, as the young artists were checking in, a friend dropping off her granddaughter  pulled out her ipad.  She showed me these images of my paintings, and asked when she'd see more of them.  

These are paintings from my favorite cove on the south end of Monhegan Island, and from a couple of years ago.  I do love standing on the rocks, listening, smelling, and even tasting the salt air as I paint.  I'm heading back there in August for a week.  You'll find me down past Lobster Cove tucked into the rocks painting, as requested.

Thanks for looking.