Growing up in York, Maine (A few miles from Ogunquit) and having a mother who was from Rockport, Massachusetts, certainly had an influence on decisions about my future as an adult. I loved to visit the artist community at Bearskin Neck on visits to my Grandparents home on Summer Street Court. With my mom, we stopped in many of the galleries as well as candy shops, such as Tucks, where she worked growing up. But the galleries really peaked my curiosity and inspired me to try things that were way out of my skill set and perhaps talent limits. I recall going into Paul Strisik’s Gallery and seeing a painting of a sheep or goat on a hillside with a large sky and full moon. It looked so natural. I remember going home and trying it. Wow, was I surprised at how little I could do.

Regardless, I was compelled to keep trying. In Ogunquit, I dropped into Don Stone’s Gallery one day and we become quick friends. He invited me to go out painting with him in the landscape. He asked me for suggestions where the locals might be friendly and perhaps I could set things up with them before we arrived. I did a few of these arrangements. We also painted on the Marginal Way and often he invited me back to his home where we would play some music. He played the banjo and let me play his 1957 Martin that he kept in the attic. I was thrilled. Don had a very large garage. The ground level served as a frame shop for his tremendous output of paintings. The top level was his painting studio, where he introduced me to egg tempera, which I have never tried.

Don invited to to Monhegan Island for one of his workshops. I stayed at his studio/home that was the old Shoemaker studio. These two weeks were also the first two weeks of my enrollment to the Portland School of Art (MECA). I was thrilled to be on monhegan with watercolors and oil paints. I barely knew anything about my decided vocation but the future was wide open.

I have dallied in plein air painting over the years, but art school opened my mind up to vast concepts and I was completely intrigued by Modernism. Deep in my heart, those days with Don have always called to me back. I have always drawn outside but not allowed myself the opportunity of what may happen when I bring my French easel rather than a pad of paper. During this summer, I have followed my ambitions and begun to indulge my curiosity, if just a little. I have become very excited to go outside and view my beloved property as perhaps a painter would. You see, it is not so exciting when you mix the colors, mostly grays and muted tones, except greens, they can be vibrant, but once you start placing the shapes and colors I become transformed into a higher frequency of my being. It is quite a magical experience.