Here we are, the Maine Landscape Guild, a group of six artists who love to paint in Maine. From left to right we are: Mary Walsh, Carla Tudor, Alex Tyng, Nancy Bea Miller, Eliza Auth, and Diana Ansley. In the background is the neighboring island of Manana.
Last year some of us spent a few days there and it was such an inspiring experience that we decided we needed to be there for longer. So this year we rented a house for a week. We had a great time hiking around the island, painting the scenery, eating delicious home-cooked meals, and enjoying wine and cheese with other visiting artists.
There is such a wealth of subjects to paint on Monhegan. For one thing, this small island has a variety of terrain, from open moor to deep woods to rocky seacoast. The buildings in the village can keep an artist occupied for a while, not to mention the lighthouse and accompanying buildings on the hill overlooking the village. It's a true microcosm, jewel-like in its beauty. You can watch the sun rise over the open sea on one side and watch it set over the sea, behind the next-door island Manana, on the opposite side.
Leaving Monhegan was especially hard because the return to the workaday world coincided with the end of summer.
