portland, maine

i began and finished this painting in august of 2005 after learning that kristy was pregnant with our first child.  i wanted to create a work of art to hang above the baby's crib that was imaginative and would also capture the feeling of where we lived when he was a little boy.  since we live on the third floor overlooking the old port and harbor, it was easy and fun to paint this little boy's "castle" presiding over a fish-filled waterway.  the original painting measures 27" x 35". 

portland fish exchange

five days a week ground fishing boats (draggers, gillnetters, and long-liners) deposit their catch from the gulf of maine and georges bank at the fish exchange where it is sorted by species and size before being auctioned off then shipped in 300 to 1200 pound lots.  The past two winters my alarm would go ring at 2:45 a.m. sunday through friday, getting me up for the early shift.  at least i didn't have to drive through the snow, as i could see the front door from my apartment window.  the original painting is 36 inches square.

casco bay

this quilt-like oil painting measures 29" by 53" and was completed early in 2005 a few months after kristy and i moved from rockland to portland.  i have always enjoyed the process of balancing individual colors in an attempt to make a harmonious composition.  in this case, the minimal use of line gave me the opportunity to do just that.

ram island light

in september 2005 i went to work for peter pray as the sternman aboard his boat the lady catherine. every third day we would haul the gear he had set three miles east of the islands clustered off portland.  this painting depicts a lighthouse built on a rocky shore a quatermile off cushing island, and the plight of lobsterboats in the high seas that frequently occur in autumn.  the original painting measures 15" x 64".

owls head , maine

my friend beave woodman was married to his wife christina in the summer of 2000.  the preceding fall i worked as the sternman on his father carls' 34 foot boat the dawn and linda.  this painting shows that boat steaming towards owls head harbor between the lighthouse and monroe island and was a wedding gift for the new bride and groom.  the original oil is five feet in width.

penobscot bay

in 2002 beave woodman and his sister dawn commissioned me to create a painting for their father carl's birthday.  since i had previously painted a picture of carls' boat for beave, i thought it would be a good idea to use beaves' boat as the subject for carls' painting.  so i used this image of "the beave" steaming up to haul the first gear of the year, in february, set in rocky terrain in "the gut", the narrow passage between monroe and sheep islands.  like the earlier painting, this one stretches five feet.