"Crescent Beach" Original Acrylic Coastal Landscape Painting

Original acrylic on wood panel, 6"x8", 2024-25. Ready to hang. 

Crescent Beach is one of ten paintings in my Little Coast collection. My family took a trip to Owls Head, Maine in 2021, and the house we rented was about two minutes' walk from the public but little-known Crescent Beach. We visited daily, of course. I loved staring out at the just-beyond-reach island, and we actually kayaked to it toward the end of our stay, only to find it was a no-people-allowed designated breeding ground for local seabirds. 

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.