Head Harbour Light

"Head Harbour Light" is the local name for the lighthouse at East Quoddy Head, at the northern end of Campobello Island.  It is on of the "One hundred heritage lighthouses" worldwide.  Built in 1829, this wooden lighthouse, with its distinctive red St. George's Cross, has become an icon in Maritime Canada.

The world-famous lighthouse has been photgraphed from every angle.  It is probably safe to say that every visitor who has a camera and the time to visit the sights of Campobello, has taken a picture.  But since I like to paint water, I knew I wanted to paint it from the water side, as seen from the sea.

Not only does the lighthouse involk a sense of the sea, but the rugged and rocky coast lends itself to expression in paint in the many variations of light and colour that rocks reflect.

Reproductions of this painting are available.  The large one (11 x 14) is featured in my Etsy shop (as depicted below).  But I also sell medium (8 x 10) and small (5 x 7) frramed prints

Dory Lobster Fishing

I recently complete a painting that had been commissioned to depict lobster fishing in a dory. 



Although dories have been used for fishing small numbers of traps quite recently (maybe still in use), a schooner, faint in the fog was requested.  The hint of the schooner in the fog takes us back a hundred years.  Almost obscured by fog, the schooner has a ghostly appearance.

The gulls, always hanging around whenever a bait pocket might be emptied, are almost obscured by fog too.

The dory is a seaworthy little craft, easily handling the light chop on the water, with the reflections in the little waves picking up alternately the dory buff, the yellow oil coat, or the foggy sky.

And of course, we have to make sure the bowline is tied correctly at the bow of the dory; a fisherman simply wouldn't stand for the knot to be incorrect!

This was a fun painting to do, and I enjoyed the sense of our maritime heritage that it gives me.

Schooner "Bluenose"

As visitors come to Maritime Canada this summer, it seems appropriate to feature a Maritime icon, the Nova Scotia schooner "Bluenose"



The original "Bluenose" was launched in 1921 at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.  At 143 feet long, she was a fast schooner, in fact the fastest fishing schooner in the world. 



She was not only a successful racer, but she also held the record for the largest single fish catch ever landed at her home port of Lunenburg. 

The owners sold her for a good prince in 1942, but she was lost in a storm off the coast of Haiti in 1946.
But the grace and beauty of this magnificent schooner prompted a replica to be built.  And the present "Bluenose" continues to be a fascination for visitors and a very important Nova Scotia attraction.

Swallowtail Welcome

As we enter August, we hit the busiest time in visitor travel to Grand Manan Island, ranked at #3 among the Seven Best Small Islands in the World.  And the first major landmark to be noticed by a visitor is Swallowtail Lighthouse, as the ferry rounds the Swallowtail peninsula to approach the Island terminal.  The print I am featuring this week is a reproduction of my painting "Swallowtail Welcome".



This painting is done in the warm colours of summer, depicting calm water and showing the Lighthouse from an angle that would be seen from the ferry



Of course we need a welcoming committee, a couple of seagulls coming out to welcome the ferry and all the visitors aboard.



And being a nice calm summer day for the arrival of our visitors, we have the reflection on the calm ocean water of the lighthouse and the rocky shore.



Sunrise on the Bay

Today's feature is a print of a new painting of a Bay of Fundy sunrise over a sea blown by a crisp morning breeze



The rising sun's reflection on the waves adds a sparkle to the painting, contrasting with the cold blue-green of the sea below the waves.

 Adding interest to this composition, a lobster buoy floats in the foreground waiting for its fisherman to come along and pick up the buoy and haul the lobster trap.

 The painting was a challenge to capture the crisp breeze on the sunrise reflecting bay.

Swallowtail Surf

My most popular print has been "Swallowtail Surf".  This is a print of my painting of Swallowtail Lighthouse at the northeast end of Grand Manan Island, as seen along the rocky shore to the north of the lighthouse.



 Perhaps the most striking part of the painting is surf in the foreground, swirling and crashing on the rocks.  I wanted for the viewer to almost smell the saltwater tang in the surf as it reaches up the rocky shore and flows back

This is a painting that I really enjoyed doing, even though it was many years ago.

Lighthouse Note Cards

Lighthouses attract people.  If you look at tourism advertising, websites of coastal communities, the vacation pictures taken by visitors to coastal destinations, you will see the familiar images of lighthouses figure prominently.  Lighthouses connect people with their coast, with their seashore.  So this week I am featuring lighthouse note cards at my Etsy shop.



The note cards are reproduced from my original paintings of these lighthouses.  There are 12 cards in each pack, (two of each lighthouse scene) with 12 white envelopes, all tied up with string.

The lighthouses are all "down east" lighthouses, four scenes from Grand Manan, one from Campobello, and one from Maine.  Gannet Rock Lighthouse is located far out at sea, off Grand Manan, out in the middle of the Bay of Fundy:

Three of the paintings depict Swallowtail light from different views and different seasons:

Head Harbour Light on Campobello Island is known world wide as a lighthouse icon:

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, near Lubec, Maine, is the easternmost point of the United States:

Altogether, these lighthouse note cards give a real seaside feel to the notes you might wish to write on the blank inside of the card.  Unique and attractive as a gift, this pack of note cards is just what you might want to surprise someone who loves the sea and sea coasts.