Small Paintings

Quiet Time 6x8 Oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

This is one of my favorite spots to paint on Campobello Island, especially at low tide.  The spruce-clad ledges point off to the southeast, and at their feet lays a vast expanse of gravel and mud.  The far part of this beach has blanketed by an intensely green marsh grass; it must be very tolerant to salt, as it is submerged half the day.  I love this “glare” effect where the ledges are backlit, throwing the spruces into deep shadow–a wonderful contrast for that bright green patch.

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Spruce by the Sea 9x12 Pastel by Michael Chesley Johnson

Sunny days!  Even as I painted this, I kept my eye on a narrow tongue of fog, licking at the south end of Grand Manan Island, seven miles to the east.  This spruce is lucky enough to live right on the edge of a stupendous bluff overlooking the Grand Manan Channel.  And I felt lucky enough that I was given the time to paint it.  Later that day, the fog crept in….

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Carrying Place 9x12 Pastel by Michael Chesley Johnson

Carrying Place depicts a morning of thick fog on Campobello Island.  The sun, just a tiny pale disc far overhead, tried to push its warmth through the fog, but it took all morning for it to succeed.  I like to paint the fog and its effects on the island terrain.  Here, you see spruces on a far-off rocky knoll, nearly dissolved in the fog, but closer by, more spruces and elders that you can see more clearly.  A bald eagle passed 20 feet overhead as I was painting this.

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Antediluvian 9x12 Oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

Although the cliffs of Quoddy Head are bold and steep, many of the rocky outcrops you see were long-ago polished and rounded by glaciers.  Some of them, though, look even older than that.  These granite rocks, often cloaked in yellow and orange and green lichen, look so old I like to think they were sculpted back in the day of Noah, before the Flood.  Their colors are a challenge to paint.

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Across the Channel 9x12 Oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

Quoddy Head State Park in Lubec, Maine, offers many moments for the painter.  Here, I stopped shy of the upwards hike to the bolder, higher cliffs to paint this scene.  In the hazy distance, you can see Grand Manan Island across the cold and deep Grand Manan Channel.

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These Bold Cliffs 9x12 Oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

Quoddy Head State Park in Lubec, Maine, has some fantastic hikes along its bold cliffs.  I like to hike in with my painting gear and paint views of this high, distant cliff.

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Spruce in Fog 12x9 Oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

Campobello Island is no stranger to fog.  When the great fog machine of the Grand Manan Channel is operating at full-tilt, much of the western and southern edges of the island are swimming in it.  I do like to get out and paint it, though, since it is so typical of the Canadian  Maritimes and Downeast Maine.  This time I went out to one of my favorite spots, Cranberry Point.  There was nothing to see to paint but this spruce -but I loved it and had a great time painting it.

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McCurdy’s, Low Tide 9x12 Oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

Lubec, Maine, was once home to many sardine canneries.  But now the herring industry has fallen on hard times and, with it, many of the old smokehouses that employed scores of villagers.  A local group, Lubec Landmarks, has managed to salvage a small collection of these historic buildings to preserve them.  One of them has become a museum.  I like to paint these buildings often, especially at low tide, as seen here.

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Fox Farm 9x12 Oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

The Roosevelt-Campobello International Park on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, is home not just to the historic Roosevelt Cottage but also many fine views.  On a foggy day, I went to Fox Farm to paint the view.  Lubec, off in the distance, was just starting to be revealed by the thinning fog; in the foreground, the Fox Farm meadow shines in the beautiful colors of late summer.

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On Foggy Street 9x12 Oil by Michael Chesley Johnson

The Grand Manan Channel, just east of Lubec, Maine, is like a big fog machine.  Cold, deep water chills the wind from the south and east, often driving a fog across the village.  I like to paint the fog, especially when the scene can include an old house and an island.  Here you see Pope’s Folly in the foggy distance, as seen from the town’s bandstand.  The bandstand makes good cover from the mist!

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