An essay on painting the oppositions within coastal motifs- Brian Keeler
In the course of painting Maine and Massachusetts coastlines along with weathered cliffs of Moher in Ireland, I have appreciated the opposites of fleeting light and the contrasting impassive geological aeons imbued in rocks. The elemental natures of coastal locales is part of the appeal of painting in Maine. In a word, the Atlantic shore of these areas presents an exhilirating intersection of the forces of nature.
Before I go into the painting aspect, a word about the name of the area is worth contemplateing. Arcadia is the Greek word for a vision of pastoralism or a golden age- a utopia or Eden if you will. The area of northeast United States and Canada was dubbed Arcadia by the Italain explorer Giovanni De Verazzano in 1524. This golden age and ideal hour concept seems relevant here as we can enjoy and persue this idealism in various forms of the landscape of this area..

Above- "Acadia Coastal Impression" Oil on linen on panel,18" x 20." This is a recent plein air oil study by the author depicting a section of coastline at Acadia National Park in Maine.
To view a video or this work being painted on location- https://youtu.be/j-sFwgbVbj0?si=r6dUEWsjIG_XsHFe
On this recent trip to Maine in late October I appreciated these polarities of time; one fleeting, evanescent, beautiful and descriptive, and the other, the underlying skeletal-like structures. The light is in a sense the raisonne d'etre of my art. But the structural integrity and proportional harmonies are important too. So the rock barriers that separate land and sea become part of the compositional underpinning. And the lucent brilliance in October of Maine motifs was in full glory. The slanted angles of the geometry on the coastal stones as they jutted out from their Appalachin arch of the northeast, were part of the appeal.
The architecture of the late 19th century mansard-roofed homes is also part of the appeal. Or be it the ochre and rust fall foliage; the light is the descriptor of the structures. And as nuanced and varied as autumn foliage is, the warm hues close to burnt sienna and yellow ochre variations were the central color that would unite an island or hillsides of trees. Yes, there were the warm greens of spruce but they seemed to be accents and apostrophes in those colors hugging the yellows on the color wheel. On occasion brilliant and chromatic yellow would be the exception to the duller background of the russet hues.

Above- "Acadian Light" an 18" x 20" oil linen by the author.
The rough-hewn crags of Acadia, the National Park in Maine and along the bays or even in the hills within the town of Stonington on Deer Isle can represent vast millenia. The immensity of geologic time presents itself as if for graphic emphasis and variations for our composing and delectation. While scurrying about the rocks (as the light at the end of the day was quickly departing), at Portlandhead, the lighthouse just south of Portland, Maine the graphic stone stripes popped out. These stripes of rocks from millions of years ago showed themselves traversing across the stony shore in interesting even striations surrounding the gleaming white lighthouse in the warm final light of an October day. These solidified sediments of past upheavals of the Earth's crust showed us the opposites of quickly departing light and the long lost and violent tectonic upheavals. As I was photographing and composing for a possible painting, I was briefly stopped in my tracks as these ancient reliefs popped out underfoot. I leaned down to feel the six inch wide lighter areas expecting them to be quartz- but the exact type of rock was beyond my rock knowledge.
The colors and the structures of the coastal rocks recall the work of Cezanne who was also interested in what seems like opposites. On the one hand, his pantings of stone quarries show an interest in the immobile and monolithic nature of stone while portraying the beauty of color. His work seems to bridge these opposites in a successful way. Using his brush and color to carve out and model the planes and facets of the quarry, Cezanne shows us a sensibility and an approach that gives us some insight into the similar geometries of the rocks at Acadia.

Above- "Gloucester, October Morning Waves" Oil on linen 30" x 36".
To view a video of the plein air study for this work being painted view this recap- https://youtu.be/1kBf_wWezcU?si=BObGtnTZYVz2T7Rf
This painting is currently on view at the Argosy Gallery in Bar Harbor, ME.

Above -"Monhegan- End of October" Oil on linen 36" x 36" This painting available at the North Star Art Gallery in Ithaca, NY.
The crashing sea or the gently lapping of waves also revealed the intersection of elements. The violence of waves and persistence of tides that constantly erode the coastal structures presents a battle of sea, air and land. At one of my painting spots in Acadia, Thunder Hole, these forces were there for our inspiration. One of the paintings of this area is shown at the top of this article. This popular spot on the coast has a constant flow of tourists curiously looking and listening. I have painted en plein air here twice and other locations nearby on several occasions. The deep and ruminating rumble of the crashing surf creates a pulse of sound as the water resounds within this crevasse. I was told that in storms the breakers at Thunder Hole can reach hundreds of feet in the air and extend clear across the road to cover the parking lot.
The immobolity of the rocks, if not their seeming stalwartness or even incorrigible nature, is part of the dichotomy of these coasts. The water being fluid and adapatable- spraying and glistening as it coats the rocks, along with slippery vegetation, has confronted the rocks since time immemorial -but with little effect. The people lounging, enjoying the views and the gulls; kids even attempting football here all seemed precarous against the threatening sharp, hard and dangerous cliffs and precarious currents below that could thrash and drown a fallen hiker.
The maps of the area are a delight to view, and they are posted in restaurants and many locations. The intricacy of the coastline with hundreds of islands, channels, peninsulas and rivers make for a rich and intriguing contemplation. I noticed myself getting excited as our GPS began to show the network of waterways as we approached the coastline.
The patterns of rocks with their fissures, fractures and jutting forms present serendipitous opportunities for artists. We may think of many of our artistic predecessors who trailblazed in New England, like George Bellows painting the drama of waves on Monhegan. His painterly studies of waves and the coastline are wonderful and spontaneous expressions. Robert Henri and Rockwell Kent left us with wonderful records of coastal Maine. Winslow Homer too gave us wonderful depictions of sea and people interacting heroically in storms after a ship wreck or traversing swells with a large fish in a small boat. Each trip we stop at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME or sometimes the Cape Ann Museum, The Ogunquit Museum or The Portland Museum to take in a variety of painterly impressions. N.C. Wyeth never ceases to amaze me for his adventurous canvases of island life. His large canvas of a woman hanging laundry above Port Clyde is a masterpiece showing the billowing sheets and the perspective of a coastal vantage point. We feel the wind and light while appreciating the human activity of a quotidian task.

Above- "Monhegan Evening" Oil on linen 36" x 36" This painting is available at the North Star Art Gallery in Ithaca, NY.
The angular nature of the rocks on the coasts offers us a network of patterns to express and put in opposition to the flowing and organic forms of waves or the wispy and feathery nature of clouds.
I must be on a geological theme as of late because these same types of earth forces have been appreciated here in Pennsylvania and Maryland recently while driving over the interstates. There are areas on Interstate 81 where the road cuts through huge rolling mountains near Hazleton, PA to reveal how the striated earth's crust was convoluted and convulsed into near vertical striations. In Maryland on the way to Cumberland there is one gap in the interstate as it goes through a mountain range that shows the dynamic pressures of past magma and molten earth. These massive forces dwarf our puny human efforts. They also have an effect similar to the first shots of earth taken from the moon in 1969, which is to put us all into perspective of the cosmic.
Our lives and efforts in the context of vast epochs of time is the takeaway here. There were several studies and finished tempera paintings by Andrew Wyeth at the Farnsworth Museum that seemed to present a summation or an expression of the impermanence and finality of human life with coast of Maine as the context. These drawings, watercolors and one tempera painting depicted a man lying face up in a skiff. It was fortunate for viewers that curators presented the process from modest pencil drawings through the evolving process of the concept to final expression. The image of the bearded old man lying face up with hands folded on his chest seemed to be like a burial boat- a last voyage if you will. The preliminary watercolor showed him in the boat, but in a barn, as if he were taking a nap. The limited palette used by Wyeth of just deep nondescript hues and white underscored and brought out the structural or even bone-like nature of the drawing and articulation of form. His color is much more subdued than his father, N.C., two completely different sensibilities.
Whether it be raw nature by itself or the expressions by other artists of humans and sea, these combinations extend our experience, widen our optic, while nuturing our souls.

"Acadian Light- October at Otter Point". Oil on linen 24" x 26". A plein air painting by the author that portrays the glint of sun on the Atlantic with the craggy coastline and trees in the foreground.

Above- The author painting on Monhegan circ November, 2014. To view a video of Keeler working on another painting on Monhegan in the summer- view this link-
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