"Salisbury Beach" Original Acrylic Coastal Landscape Painting

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

Salisbury Beach is one of ten paintings in my Little Coast collection. After a particularly bad art market in Salisbury, Massachusetts (actually, the greatest loss I've taken to date), I reasoned that the best way to reset my spirits for the long drive home would be to visit the beach not five minutes away. It's one of those beaches with motels, restaurants and arcades nearly to the water's edge- very touristy, but it was late April and not terribly crowded yet. And I love the architecture of a place like this- hence this painting. 

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.