Making pictures while the sun don’t shine
How did Mainers put up seafood before the invention of little plastic freezer bags?
Tag Archives: Castine
13 paintings in 7 days
I sang scales—creaky, raspy, cat-howl vocal exercises I learned in my youth. They’re especially entertaining when driving through Camden with the windows down.
Uncle Sam goes wild
Get a grip, Customs and Immigration. Protect us from Nickleback and Celine Dion, not the mild-mannered watercolorists of this world.
No side deals
This is a peculiar life: unpredictable, peripatetic, and often exhausting. Still, it’s a beautiful one, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Leave the light on
Hello, July! The maddest, gladdest, busiest time of year on the Maine coast is about to commence.
Bracketing
If you’ve ever sold a house, you know that the aggravation doesn’t end until the final papers are signed. We’re in that time between accepting an offer and closing. I gauge how bad the problem is going to be by how soothing my agent’s voice is when he says hello. I’m not going to get into the […]
I learn how Mainers cook scallops
The last day of a plein air festival always ends in a kerfuffle. “There’s always drama in framing,” said Ted Lameyer of Castine, who went on to tell me how he didn’t have the right mats and had to swap some from other framed paintings. For me, the drama was simpler: a cracked frame. But […]
Painting al fresco
Early yesterday morning I ran out and painted a cute little guest cottage hiding under the skirts of its mother house. Berna Kaiserian had told me about it, and it derailed my carefully-planned day. What a way to go! The owner of the guest cottage is retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Philip M. Freedman. He […]
OK, so I lied
Remember when I said working artists aren’t party animals? OK, so I lied. Yesterday was the start of the best party of the year, the 2015 Castine Plein Air Festival. The festival opens with an open-air reception on the wraparound porch of the beautiful, historic Castine Inn. Built in 1898, the Inn is a block from […]
Traveling light
In less than four weeks, I embark on an odd and interesting trip. Four of us are delivering a small SUV to Anchorage, Alaska. Because it will contain most of my daughter’s worldly goods, I intend to keep my luggage down to a carry-on bag, my laptop, my camera, and, of course, a small watercolor […]
