"Nubble Light" Original Acrylic Coastal Landscape Painting

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

Nubble Light is one of ten paintings in my Little Coast collection, and undoubtedly the most iconic view in the set. This lighthouse in York, Maine is ever-popular but forever out of reach. It's on a private island a short distance from shore and can only be viewed from Cape Neddick Point on the mainland. Still, hundreds of people (and seagulls) flock there daily to see it. It's just that beautiful.

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.