A Summer Painting

Lighthouse and Flowers

Maine has a summer, and sometimes we even have a hot summer. If the rest of the season continues to be like the past week, we could be in for a real scorcher, for the last seven days have been unseasonbly hot.

After posting the winter scene during last weeks' hot weather, I decided to use this somewhat whimsical watercolor that tries to catch the summers' sunshine and the resulting flowers. Lighthouses are kind of a passe` item among contemporary artists, but I decided to attack this subject with an unusal perspective and point of view. Perhaps this painting works, perhaps not- but it does underscore the importance lighthouses play in the Maine landscape and also it illustrates the attempts painters have made to depict this icon of coastal New England.

Speaking of lighthouses, one of the regional supermarket chains recently sponsored a contest where 200 artists were chosen to paint a ten foot tall plastic replica of a lighthouse. Most chose to depict an aquatic scene, and thus set about the challenge of covering a cylindrical object with a painted scene that could be viewed from all angles. I have to admit at that point in time the plastic lighthouses looked sort of intriquing with all the different displays of sailboats, lobsters, seagulls and whatever else fancied the artist' mind. Now, a year or two later after each individual ten foot light has been purchased and placed on permament display by participating businesses, I am starting to wonder if it was such a great idea, though I haven't heard any complaints from the tourists.