July 11-18, Monhegan Island

I also enjoyed working in my sketchbook more than ever.  Mostly pen and ink sketches like these.

July 11 - 18 Monhegan Island, Maine

The week was a wonderful and challenging experience for me. I tend to be a solitary painter, and I also have had little success painting plein air. But, the color and the light were so inspiring, and the company so encouraging and nurturing that I found myself producing work very much outside my comfort zone.

This photo is from my first day at Burnt Head. It shows the essence of Monhegan, for me.  It was all about the rocks and the water which provided me with an all new palette. The painting here was done sitting on the rocks in gouache on watercolor paper.

July 11 - 18 Monhegan

My first ever trip to Monhegan Island, Maine, describe as " a small, rocky Island ten miles from the nearest mainland and scarcely a square mile in area. It is accessible only by boat and there are no cars or paved roads on the Island. For more than 100 years Monhegan has been a summer haven for artists and others who appreciate its isolation, the beauty of its wilderness areas, its quiet relaxed atmosphere, and its unhurried pace."

I was so fortunate to be invited to join  15 other painters (self-named the Plein Air Heads) for a week of (miraculously) beautiful weather. We shared an incredibly funky converted fish house right on the beach. When looking out any window, all one could see is water and rocks.