7 Days, 6 years, and 5 Artists

The Stonington Artist's Retreat Experience

To put it plainly, this Isle is like Avalon; it must disappear when you are not there….But it stays with you afterward, and more than that, things you didn’t know you saw come back to you after you have left.”John Steinbeck, "Travels with Charley"

Deer Isle, way down east beyond the tip of the Blue Hill peninsula is connected to the rest of Maine by a suspension bridge followed by an S curve shaped granite bordered bridge. Stonington is at the far edge of Deer Isle looking out over Penobscot Bay to the islands of Merchant's Row and some of the best sailing and boating waters around. It's been the site of my annual artist's retreat for the last six years, sometimes for the whole month of September, sometimes for just a week. Each year has been different from the last with the artist participants changing, the weather unpredictable (will there be fog everyday?), and the art experiments new each time. Always it's been very enjoyable and productive.

Reach Beach • oil on linen • 9" x 12"

Iconic House 2 • oil on linen • 10" x 12 "

A retreat experience, whether it is a juried residency or a self designed sabbatical, allows for the kind of focus and intensity that makes it completely worth the effort it takes to get the time freed up and your life in order enough to get away. I think one of these a year is a must for me. I always advance in some way, although it may not be obvious to anyone else I am stacking up the learning experiences and that is invaluable to me.

This year was a one week stay four very talented and giving people with an intensive focus on plein air painting. I was looking for new ways to express the light and air and color of the water there.

Retreat 2015 friends: Ginny, Martha, Steve, and Richard

A great experience, and one I have been repeating at different locations for the past two months, which explains why there was such a delay between this one and the last one. Time got away from me, but I plan to catch up with more to come shortly! Thanks for your patience.