"Local Color" at the Island Inn, Monhegan Island

Any chance you will be in Maine this summer??? If so, take the ferry out to Monhegan Island for hundreds of reasons, but this summer Frank has a  huge and wonderful exhibit, "Local Color" which is over 40 paintings from the past 5 years.  

The exhibition opened beautifully at The Island Inn on Monhegan on Tuesday.  Visitors are welcome to view this show during or in between dining room hours. I recommend bringing your own bottle of wine, order the beet/chevre salad and scallops with papardelle, so you can sit and enjoy wonderful food, service and ART all at once. All paintings (except those with red dots) are available for sale through the Lupine Gallery and will remain on display until Columbus Day, but don't wait that long to make your choice! 

fbruckmann.com is a great resource for viewing Frank's work as well.

Frank with 3 of his collectors

Frank with gallery owner, Jackie Boegel

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

The Drama of the Rising Sun and Monhegan Beauty

Around the clock Monhegan is gorgeous in it's many painting subjects and so it is my pleasure to show off more of Frank's very recent, still wet canvasses from the past week or so. We have been given almost completely sunny days, so it is hard for Frank to resist going outside to start new work, when a rainy day would certainly give him time to finish the other beginnings. Well, some down time has been found and so here are some finished pieces to admire....click on any of the images below for a larger, more detailed view of these beauties, below....keep checking in for more work, or better yet, take a moment to jump thru the hoops and SIGN-IN to the BLOG for a direct email to your inbox. Prices? available upon request!

Misty Afternoon over Manana.  11x14" original painting by Frank Bruckmann.

Sherm's Fish House 16 x 20". Original painting by Frank Bruckmann

Sunrise and Surf under Whitehead. 9 x 12". Original painting by Frank Bruckmann

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

Painting Commission, finished and installed

Here's  the view of the road in front of our house from our winter season on Monhegan Island, ME that Frank painted for a client's mantle piece. The room it lives in has walls of grayish/tan wood, so this really stands out amidst the neutral tones of furniture and other decor.

"Snowy Road" 34 x 62. original oil painting by Frank Bruckmann.©