Monhegan Island Workshop July 20-27, 2013

Come and paint the fabled Monhegan Island this summer with Frank, July 20-27, 2013. For decades, Monhegan Island has been on every artist's radar as the place to capture the beauty of the Maine Coast.  And through Frank's instruction, you will paint the craggy coastline, the quaint village, the working harbor, and Monhegan's headlands tumbling into the ocean. When you are not painting, you'll have the freedom to roam the 17 miles of hiking trails that grace this 1.2 mile long island (in typically fabulous weather), to swim if you can brave the cold ocean temps, take a morning yoga class, get a massage, read books from the island library and eat ice cream, lobster, and all kinds of decadence, in the few island restaurants.

Don't delay signing up! Places to lodge will fill up quickly, since July is high season, and you need to secure your spot in the class.  Click here to see the logistics on Frank's Website.

The kids and I will be there too, and besides painting we are always finding fun things to do, beach combing, picnicking after a long hike, catching the talent at the bi-weekly Monhegan Jamboree, harvesting and/or working at the weekly Farmer's market, jumping off the dock and innertubing in the harbor.

Rising Sun Lights up Gull Rock

Frank quickly painting the rising sun, August 2012

Painting from Sunrise to Sunset on Monhegan Island

Back on Monhegan, but this time it is a family venture, and for the rest of summer. With endless vantage points, it IS possible to paint from sunrise to sunset.  The sun has been rising at about 5:09am, so in order to catch it, you have to first get out of bed around 4ish.  Next you need to make coffee, then do the hike to the back side of the island, sometimes in the dark, so you can make it to your spot, without tripping and dropping all your supplies, paint as much of the background in, and wait for that reddish-orangeish sphere to appear on the horizon.  The color of the sun changes so quickly, as well of all the effects of the rising sun on the rest of the landscape, that you just have to decide which colors and values work the best, and then go for it, before the light changes everything all over again!

Frank has managed to repeat the above procedure, many days in a row. I have gotten myself up to join in on the fun and felt triumphant. Nothing like the feeling that you have the island to yourself in the early morning...just you, your paints, crashing surf, the endless squawks of the gulls and that incredible briny smell of the ocean mixed with herbal bug repellent.

Capturing the Sunrise, looking at Whitehead, Monhegan Island.  July 2012