Safe Harbor

“Safe Harbor”          Pastel          9” x 12”        $100           © Sharon Lewis
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         I look at this painting and remember the end of a beautiful, relaxing day of hiking and painting in Maine. It helps me to remember sometimes, in the midst of my mad rush to complete one work task after another, to take a deep breath and look up and around. There’s always something in nature that makes me smile, makes me curious, or look in awe.  The natural world helps me regain perspective, to remember what’s really important at the end of the day. Here’s to good friends, the beauty and wonder of nature, and a happy weekend!

 

Ocean Solitude

“Ocean Solitude”             Pastel             18” x 24"            $ 350            © Sharon Lewis
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             I was born in a city with a vast inland sea (Chicago) and then grew up near the ocean in southern Florida. I now live outside a major landlocked city (Atlanta), far away from the ocean and I find myself really missing it from time to time. There’s something so mesmerizing about standing on a shore, whether sandy or rocky as in this case, and just watching the force and beauty of the incoming waves.

            For this painting, I used photos I took while climbing out on the rocks and shooting the shoreline all the time hoping I didn’t lose my balance and become part of the crashing surf below. 
            Happy Weekend!

          

 

A Summer Day in Bar Harbor

"A Summer Day in Bar Harbor"         Pastel        9" x 12"        $100         © Sharon Lewis

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             In the middle of one of Georgia’s typical, very hot August days, it’s wonderful to remember visiting Maine. I remember even when the days are warm, there are wonderful ocean breezes to cool you off. Maine has a kind of beauty that I never tire of painting with it’s warm, peach-tinted rocks catching the sun and contrasting with the cool greens of it’s majestic trees.      

          This is based on some of my photos of Bar Harbor, ME.

Repose

  "Repose"             Pastel           5” x 7”              $50             © Sharon Lewis 
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           On a rainy day in Bailey Island, I decided to paint from reference photos one of my other favorite areas in Maine – Bar Harbor. My friend Jim Brown and his wife are now running a wonderful Bed and Breakfast there called, the Coach Stop Inn. It’s not only a gorgeous place but also has wonderful food! After one of their meals, you might want to hike along this rocky coast or maybe relax as this woman is and just stare out to sea.

Distant Lights

“Distant Lights”          Pastel       9” x 12”      SOLD     © Sharon Lewis
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             One of our favorite places to eat when we’re in Maine is the Dolphin Marina and Restaurant, on the Harpswell Neck peninsula.  It is perfectly located on a rise with a panoramic view of a cove filled with sailboats mixed with a few fishing boats, and off in the distance, the islands of Casco Bay.  I love that if you look this place up online, they give you directions by land, sea, and air. Apparently, some of their guests arrive by sailboats and others by helicopter, landing in the meadow behind the restaurant. How cool!

            The owners are really nice and welcoming and huge blueberry muffins come with every meal! We usually try to time our dinner there so that as we leave on the narrow road back, we get a view of the sunset. I’m not sure why but I have seen the most gorgeous sunsets here and of course I just had to paint it.

Out to Sea

“Out to Sea”    Pastel     5” x 7”     $50     © Sharon Lewis
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            I’m back from beautiful Bailey Island, Maine where we had mostly wonderful weather and mostly terrible internet connections. Normally, I wouldn’t have really cared about the internet but I had big plans to paint daily or as often as possible and post daily. Unfortunately, I only managed to post once because we kept losing our connection altogether.

            Nonetheless, I got to enjoy cool (and sometimes cold) morning and evening breezes, hiking through the woods and along the rocky coast, and falling asleep to the sound of the waves. I also got to paint every day, usually outside. My biggest problem was selecting which beautiful view to tackle for a painting.  I’ll be posting some of these over the next few weeks.

            Have a happy holiday weekend!

Sails at Sunset

“Sails at Sunset”        Pastel         2.5” x 3.5”        $20           © Sharon Lewis
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             I’ll be spending some time in Maine this summer and I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to cool morning and evening breezes, hiking through the woods, and falling asleep to the sound of waves. I’m also planning to paint plein air. I’m still a little uncomfortable painting around strangers unless I’m with a group but since we rent a house, I can paint all around this beautiful property.

            This petite painting is based on some photos I took while in Portland, Maine several years ago.

            Happy Summer Solstice!

 

Coastal Light

“Coastal Light”     Pastel    12” x 12”    $175    © Sharon Lewis

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            Winter appears to have returned to the Atlanta area, at least temporarily. It’s a grey, windy, somewhat cold day. Perhaps that’s why I felt that today’s painting of the early evening light falling on the shore seemed perfect for today. I know that the water is cold but I can remember the feel of the sun on my face as I photographed this scene. The whale watching boats were full (my favorite excuse to be out on a boat with the bonus that you get to observe wild life), so we were on a boat tour of the islands in the Casco Bay, off the coast of Portland, Maine. People use this boat as a bus or ferry between the islands and the mainland, so at one point, the boat was full of people with luggage, groceries, small dogs, children, and tourists like us. The islanders and tourists were easily distinguished in that one group was madly photographing everything (me) and the other were acting like they couldn’t wait to get away from the tourists.

            Happy Weekend!

First Light

“First Light”       9” x 12”      Pastel      $100       © Sharon Lewis
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            Every summer for the last several years, we have been lucky enough to spend a week in June on Bailey Island, Maine. For reasons that remain mysterious to me, I, a very definite non-morning person, always wake up at first light. And I love doing this! Maybe it’s because that first light occurs in June during a time that most people would call night (around 4 AM) but for whatever the reason, this first light is just absolutely gorgeous! I have taken quite literally hundreds of photos of this time (during which time I have sometimes been bitten by what feels like a hundred mosquitoes) because you see beautiful colors that you don’t see any other time. In addition, each “first light” is different from all of the others. The sky presents itself as a unique and dazzling masterpiece each morning. What a gift!

Risk Takers

"Dangerous Beauty"              8" x 10"             Pastel             $75              © Sharon Lewis  
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             What is it about some of us that we are drawn to taking risks? One of my best friends, Dr. Ken Carter, is writing a book about sensation seekers (see http://www.drkencarter.com/) which includes people who like to take physical risks, so it’s made me think and wonder about this. I don’t think that I’m that much of a risk taker but I know there’s something exciting and almost hypnotic about standing at the edge of a rocky cliff and looking at the waves crashing down below. As an artist I notice the subtle but beautiful shades of green and blue and purple in the water at the same time I’m aware of the exhilarating risk I’m taking in standing so close to the edge of a rocky cliff. I just find it fascinating to see all that energy in a huge wave that seems like it’s heading right for you only to crash below on the rocks.

            I don’t think I’m alone in this fascination. See the people in the painting? They’re also captivated by the beauty and the danger. What about you?