New ..... A Downeast Lighthouse Painting

"Dice Head Lighthouse - Castine,Maine" , Oil  12 x 12" ©2015 www.kathipeters.com

My latest oil painting depicts the beautiful “Dice Head Lighthouse” of Castine, Maine. A summer road trip Downeast prompted a visit to this lighthouse. The surrounding trees, in the yard of the lighthouse, had branches draped with gray -green lichen. I was fascinated with the way it decorated the landscape…..and chose adding it for my first work depicting this interesting lighthouse. The current tower was built in 1829 out of rubble stone, remodeled in 1858 and has long since been dark, replaced by an automated light tower. The lighthouse is a delight to the eye.

Fall has settled in on our small farm. We are starting to put our carriages away for the winter, and getting ready to pull out the snow blower and put away the lawnmowers. I love the cool [some cold] nights and sun filled days where bright orange and yellow color washes the forested edges of our fields, dispersed by the dark greens of our spruce and pines. The horses are full of energy and playfulness. The yard is busy with the seed hording of our resident varmints and Nell is in hunt mode all day in full terrier tradition.

I am trying to find time to paint……………

Pondering.....and Two New Paintings



"The Rocks Of Maine's Coast"      Oil on copper panel      6 x 6"       ©2012 www.kathipeters.com

When the days get shorter, my studio time seems to get longer. It doesn't really compute, but it seems to be the norm. I am sitting here now looking around my studio and trying to figure out how I can get more room in the studio that I was sure was "big enough". It now seems to have shrunk. Funny how that happens. So as daylight shrinks by the minute....my studio shrinks by the day. I need to get more creative on how I use the space available to me. So I sit here pondering.......

I love where we live. Periodically I need an ocean fix. Maine's coast calls to me, maybe because I was born in a water sign month.....or because I was born on the coast. I need to be near water. And lately I also have been feeling the need to paint work depicting the ocean too. Luckily, I am near it.....inspiration is only a short ride away. Pictured above is one of my latest works, a small gem of a painting depicted our rocky coast of Downeast Maine.

And then after I picked the very last of our pears from our small orchard....I set up and did a small still-life painting. It seemed only fitting. Small and small....!

"Four Pears"  OIl on copper panel   6 x 6"   ©2012 www.kathipeters.com

 

And NOW I am thinking that my studio is small........

Still Life and Beautiful Maine

"Roseville and Angels"   casein on board      7 x 5"

This small casein, "Roseville and Angels" .....a quick still life depicting my Roseville vase and my clay gold painted angels from Italy, that has been floating around in my head for quite some time.The time was right finally and here it is!  I bought the wee angels as a child ,when we lived in Milan, Italy. I found them at a street market, and now in retrospect, I am sure they came out of a church at some time. I have always had them in my bedroom....along with a few other angels I brought with me, from Italy, years ago.They guarded me then and do still today!

We have been enjoying this year's spring in Maine. Our area of the state is wonderful this time of year, when the green of new growth pushes the gray woods branches back into the background,  as the yellow green takes over. I had business in Camden the other day and took time to grab some shots of the harbor and two masted schooners there.....and the yellow-green of the mountains surrounding this wonderful ocean front mid-coast village.

I am sure there will be some paintings done in the near future inspired by these shots!

But for now I need to get back into the studio working on some equine images for my Lexington,KY show coming this September.....I have so many ideas..............

and not enough hours in the day!

In past years I have enjoyed summers at Acadia, with my husband, driving our Welsh Cob mares. Lazy summer days with the pair trotting down the carriage roads built by Mr. Rockefeller, so that he could enjoy the spectacular views of Mount Desert Island and coastal Maine. If you have horses and haven’t been there, you need to go!!

At Wildwood Stables, where we camped with our horses, I took many shots of the draft horses there that pull the carriages that take the tourists through the carriage roads, so they can get a glimpse of the beauty that hides on these roads forbidden to the automobile. This casein is of one of those big boys, on a respite. I have done several versions of this draft, in different mediums- in casein, watercolor, acrylic, liquid gold, and pastel. Some of those can be seen on my website.

“A Quiet Spot” is the latest version of this gentle giant.