"Owls Head Mist" Original Acrylic Coastal Landscape Painting

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

Owls Head Mist is one of ten paintings in my Little Coast collection. My family visited Owls Head, Maine in 2021, and you'll notice several paintings in this series inspired by that trip. On the morning depicted in this piece, there was a heavy fog over the coast, swallowing the islands we would otherwise see and even houses just a short walk away. Usually my paintings show sunny days, but in this case, I wanted to show the intrigue that even a misty beach day brings, and how when your field of vision is reduced, that at close range becomes more special. 

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.