Little Coast

Small paintings, big impact: exploring the coast of New England in acrylic.

All 6"x8" acrylic on wood panel, created 2024-25

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  • A vertically-oriented painting of a lighthouse (Nubble Light in York, Maine) on an island, surrounded by rock cliffs and the ocean below.

    Nubble Light

  • A vertically oriented painting of soft waves lapping the shore, reflecting the twilight in the sand. In the distance are a row of silhouetted beachfront houses.

    Scarborough Sunset

  • A vertically oriented acrylic painting of gray rocks in blue water. Two seagulls fly above them at the horizon line.

    Cape Neddick Point

  • A colorful, vertically-oriented painting of  tree by a rocky shoreline on a sunny day.

    Ash Point

  • A vertically oriented acrylic painting depicting a couple of pine trees growing among coastal rocks under a blue sky.

    High Tide Island

  • A vertically oriented acrylic landscape painting depicting a tall pine tree on a grassy field before an ocean bay.

    Lighthouse Road

  • A vertically oriented landscape painting depicting some beachfront buildings on a tall pier, viewed from the sand. The pier comes from left to meet the ocean waves at right. The sky is pale blue and the sand is painterly in texture.

    Salisbury Beach

  • A vertically oriented acrylic landscape painting showing a beach view with a distant wooded island. The artwork is composed in three equal, horizontal stripes: a pale sky at the top, gray-blue waves in the middle, and texture-rich sand at bottom.

    Crescent Beach

  • A vertically-oriented painting of a foggy, rocky beach scene. At left there are a row of houses, fading into the fog with distance, and a gray body of water at right. In the left foreground are a pile of large, textural rocks.

    Owls Head Mist

  • A vertically oriented acrylic landscape painting, showing a white house beside a silvery body of water. The sky is overcast. In the foreground is a wooden fence, and in the water are the remains of an old pier.

    Kittery Point

Summer in coastal New England: it’s blue, it’s gray, it’s warm days playing on the sand but only your toes brave the cold water. It’s weathered rocks on winding beaches and a misty breeze that sneaks right through the knit of your sweater. The blue is deep and opaque and still enthralls you (me) when the sun is out. I love how sea air weathers everything, graying the shingled houses, and smoothing rocks, seaglass and driftwood. 

The Little Coast series celebrates the coastline I know and love, extending both ways from New Hampshire’s proud 13 miles up through midcoast Maine, and (beyond the scope of this series) even the Maritimes of Canada; and down the coast of Massachusetts to the Cape where I’ve only been once or twice. My family are ocean people, and we’re pulled back to shore like a slow tide every few months, even in winter. The small scale of these paintings allow other ocean people, like us, to hold a piece of the Gulf of Maine closely. They emphasize the scale of a moment and how precious what it contains may be.