Everyone should paint in Maine

Green Island and surf, Carol L. Douglas

Green Island and surf, Carol L. Douglas

Yesterday, my husband and I both left the house early. He was heading to the airport, while I was off to paint.

Many states have ocean frontage. Maine, however, has great granite tumbles down to the sea. Even more than the visual grandeur, one first registers the gentle susurration of water, the rhythmic pounding of surf, and the occasional deep boom of a particularly big wave.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Acadia. This, by the way, is a good reason to attend my workshop in August. Painting instruction (and I’m pretty good at it) is important, but it’s not everything. The Schoodic Peninsula is a great, long fist pointing out into the ocean. The tip of it—where we will be painting—is Federal parkland. Behind us are trees and marshes; in front of us is the wild North Atlantic. The rhythm of the sea rapidly wipes away your worries.

Early spring color, 6X8, Carol L. Douglas.

Snapped spruce, 6X8, Carol L. Douglas.

There are many little tucks and folds in this state that could argue for being the most beautiful place on earth. Grimes Cove in East Boothbay is another of them, with its pounding surf, myriad offshore islands, great tumbles of granite boulders, dark, ragged spruces, and clapboard-clad summer cottages.

I met Corinne McIntyre and other painters from Plein Air Painters of Maine (PAPME) there. I have a long history with New York Plein Air Painters, including a spell as the chair, but this was my first excursion with the Maine group. They couldn’t be lovelier people.

Red house and spruces, 12X9, Carol L. Douglas

Red house and spruces, 12X9, Carol L. Douglas

I did three fast field sketches while my elderly dog Max scrambled over the boulders. In a few weeks, nesting birds will have returned to the shore and he won’t be allowed off his lead, but yesterday he could be a wild dog. The old dear enjoyed himself right up to the moment he fell in. A cold dousing of sea water and he was ready for a nap in the car.

Max playing on the rocks.

Max playing on the rocks.

We were the last to leave. Tired and hungry, I checked my text messages. My poor husband was still waiting for his flight in Portland. There being nothing I could do, Max and I drove home to have dinner. Eventually, my husband made it to Norfolk. He is consoling himself this morning by taking pictures of palm trees while waiting for his meetings to start.

Carol Douglas

About Carol Douglas

Carol L. Douglas is a painter who lives, works and teaches in Rockport, ME. Her annual workshop will again be held on the Schoodic Peninsula in beautiful Acadia National Park, from August 6-11, 2017. Visit www.watch-me-paint.com/ for more information.