(NOTE: An abridged version of this interview/essay was originally published in Maine Art Scene) The traditional art gallery model that has served plein air painters, mixed media artists, and fine art photographers for generations still reigns supreme in Maine; but change is in the wind.
If there were any questions as to whether Ogunquit remains one of the most lively, enduring, and relevant Art Colonies in America, they have now been answered — thanks to the Inaugural Perkins Cove Plein Air Painting Event which occurred on 9/11/21.
I stare deep into a puddle full of autumn and feel her gazing back at me. There she is. Floating just above the cracked pavement. Drawn in glistening sunlight on the surface of fresh-fallen rainwater. At the center of a psychedelic-technicolor landscape vividly alive with the fiery hues of October’s fresh death.
Earlier today, as I sat on a stone wall outside the historic Thompson Farm House along the Shore Road of Ogunquit, I witnessed a monarch butterfly end its final flight.
Last summer’s fruit still clings to the end of thorny rosa rugosa stems along the Marginal Way cliff walk in Ogunquit, Maine — even as spring sunlight coaxes new growth elsewhere along the thickets.