The Lightkeeper’s House at Marshall Point

Giclee Print on Mounted Canvas
Edition of 300 S/N
Image: 17″ x 19″
$250

I love old buildings, their histories, and the   stories they could tell.  Old mills, barns, and houses with character have always been some of my favorite subjects.  Recently, my wife,   Deb, and I spent a vacation exploring the coastal back roads and fishing   villages of Maine.  The light in Maine in the summer has a crystalline quality, and the rivers and coves have the most intensely blue water I have ever seen.  Add an incredibly beautiful old house to   that mix and you have the perfect subject matter for a painting. Driving along, we came out of the spruce woods and around a bend and the entire scene just about knocked me over.  I couldn’t wait to paint it.

The light keeper’s house at Marshall Point, near  Port Clyde, was built in 1895.  The adjacent lighthouse, which is not  visible from the angle I chose, was built in1823 and automated in 1981.   It is a small structure and not nearly as picturesque as many other New  England lighthouses.  (It actually appeared in the movie “Forrest Gump.)   I was more interested in the way the white clapboard shingles on the house  sparkled in the summer sunlight and the interesting angles and shadows,  all set off by the deep blue of the water of the St George River.  I feel  certain that this is a successful painting based on the number of people  who look at it and say, “That’s got to be Maine.”  They also like the  seagull poop on the roof.