Spring in Acadia National Park

Acadia was spectacular these past few days! It wasn’t too crowded and it appeared I was the only artist painting in the park. Visitors from all over the world stopped to chat and snap a picture. The weather changed on a dime. When it was sunny it was great! The temps were chilly up high and along the coast. The wind picked up as the cold front headed in. My easel blew over once – I didn’t have it tucked in enough behind the car. The hikers and bikers were having a blast as they were building up some heat with their activities.



Here is Frenchman’s Bay in the late morning before the wind started tearing through. The water has an iridescent luminous quality till the winds build. You can catch it in early am and at dusk.


Eagle Lake looked fabulous when the clouds cleared out.


I stayed at my favorite place the “artist’s motel” - The Robbins Motel on rte 3 on the way into downtown Bar Harbor. Its old fashioned, cheap and super clean (spring special $32 a night).I ran into Jack (the owner) as I loaded up the car for a day out in the wilds.


Sunset from the Blue Hill overlook on Cadillac Mountain is a big event. I stopped by to scope out the location and noticed the sun and sky colors were getting nice. Then as the light started to get dramatic the parking suddenly filled up. Piles of people went out on the rock ledge to watch as the sky put on a show. It was a festive event.


I painted 2 5x7’s till the sun went down then headed over to the other side of Cadillac to watch the village lights come on all over Frenchman’s Bay.

Sketches

Did some good sketches today but I’m still thinking about the dimensions of the paintings. Don’t think I’m a “standard size frame" painter.

At the End of the Day

The peak experience of the day was a fisherman coming over asking to see my paintings. I was packing up and tired at this point – oh no I said (they were packed in the dryers) Marcus said “ Mary!” So I reached for the cases and started showing them to him. What treasure he was ! He told me he worked in pastels, watercolors and charcoal and knew he wanted to do oils. He was a beautiful, huge guy with dark leathery skin and a gold front tooth. Told me the town I lived in was called “North Burlap” by the locals.

On the Water in May

It was 70 at my house this AM and when I arrived in the marshes it was in the low 60’s with a stiff wind. High clouds thinned the sun so no warmth there. The wind increased so much I had to park the car nose into the wind and paint behind it. It even sprinkled a bit before the sun decided to come out till sunset. Ogunquit at the footbridge was good for a 5x7 and 8x10. Then I headed over to Drakes Island and Wells Harbor. Marcus was with me today; he brought his portable office with him and worked the whole time.