Yes, I painted today....plein air....the scene above....
the painting study was a scraper...
Perhaps I spent a bit too much time talking to the returning lobstermen. Some leave Friendship, home to one of Maine's most active lobster fleets at 4 AM, others maybe later. One person suggested the boat that suddenly blocked my view for my painting study would leave again tomorrow at 6 AM.
The predawn of Friendship sounds like a zoo at feeding time as boats are revved up and men yell across the water to one another. Using GPS, fog and dark are no enemy.
In fact one lobsterman told me the sea and his over 500 traps and their locations are as familiar to him as his own bedroom. This man is aging and told me the traps weigh the same as when he was younger, but now they are heavier. I understand. The old toothless character told me lobstering hasn't changed much since his grandfather's day...just a few more toys of technology. He still listens to the morning radio report with one weather eye on the set of the sea and the cast of the day. Why oh why didn't I think to photograph this man?
So "year after year, he harvest the sea on his rounds, unburdened by the need to till or fertilize his ocean pastures.... Any Maine lobsterman will tell you that lobstering spoils a man for any other way of life." (from the book Night Train at Wiscasset Station, An Unforgettable Portrait of Maine and Its People)
 |
| Just a scraper study...value and hue too far off |
