My husband and I just returned from a long road trip which included seventeen days in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. I painted with mentor artist Kevin Macpherson for the first week and John Cosby the second week as part of the En Plein Air Masters program. I came home with a total of 21 paintings! Not all were finished of course, but overall I was pleased. Above are two of them, "Work Boats" and "Coastal Morning"...see the "My Latest Works" section of my website for more. The mentor artists, who included Macpherson, Cosby, Kenn Backhaus, John Burton, Joe Anna Arnett, Gil Dellinger and Betty Carr, were tremendously affirming and encouraging with their critiques and feedback. Many thanks to each of them! It was also great to meet so many fellow artists from all over the country, and to get reacquainted with several we have met in the past.

St. Andrews is a very quaint town right along the coast on the Passamaquoddy Bay, about 28 miles across the border from Maine. This part of New Brunswick brought back so many childhood memories for me…I lived in Maine and on the coast of Newfoundland for about four years when I was a young child. The people there were so friendly and helpful, and very interested in all of us and our work. Many invited us to paint in their yards and gardens, and gave us tips on other great places in the area to paint. The most incredible thing was the tide there…it goes up and down 28 feet! In fact, there is one island there that at low tide a road appears that you can drive on over to the island. We literally would begin a painting with boats floating in the water and by the time we were done the boats were on dry land (and vice versa). The two photos from nearby Deer Island, above, give you an idea of how dramatic the tides are. A couple of times we found ourselves chased up (and off!) the beach by the incoming tide. It really was an amazing sight to behold. When the tide was going out it almost looked like the incoming waves were going backward…just unreal! There was an endless number of interesting things to paint there, from the fishing villages,  to the working boats, lobster shacks and traps, gorgeous architecture, the islands and so much more.