#260 Summer Arrives

Summer finally arrives! I have mixed feeling about the longest day of the year having come and gone already. It may be a Maine thing, but it seems like spring's not what it used to be. It was always a soft, gently lit prelude to summer. These days it's more like a final kicker from winter.

In the meantime, here's the June painting in my recently published 2017 calendar. Check it out on my web site:

http://www.claudiadiller.com/calendar.htm


Summer Arrives • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#259 Port Clyde House

On a recent sojourn along the coast, I landed in Port Clyde. We had spent a not so peaceful night anchored there last summer when the wind blew up on us and we were forced to take cover.

Today I was exploring on foot, and found a nondescript house with good bones right in the middle of town. It didn't look like anyone lived there, and reminded me of the old tough and simple-by-necessity life of fishermen on the coast of Maine. Someone will probably buy it and turn it in to a summer "cottage," but for no it stands defiant.

Port Clyde • 8" X 8" framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#258 A World Filled With Promise

I used to paint from beautiful memories. It was a wonderful time, filled with hope, love and gratitude. I had an ability to put destructive thoughts aside and paint the life and future I wanted. It was therapy, and a way to contribute to a world that could sometimes feel overwhelmingly scary.

Today I am totally in the present with someone who will be leaving this world. She reminds me that this life is never to be taken for granted - that it would be an act of arrogance to do so. She also reminds me not to hold back on love, that there will always be more than enough love to go around for everyone and every thing in this world because love is a never ending. And finally, she reminds me that giving others a glimpse of what is good and beautiful in this world, in whatever form, is the most courageous thing we as humans do, and the best job you could ever have.

This painting is for all of you too, who have forgotten how to do it - to imagine a life and then create a world that is beautiful, and filled with promise.

A World Filled With Promise • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12" • $250

SOLD - Munjoy Hill

I was on my daily walk through the neighborhood a few weeks ago when I came across this plastic container filled with flowers - still wrapped in plastic, and placed on a doorstep to catch some rare sun. It reminded me of something I might see in an old European neighborhood. I was enthralled, like I was when I moved up here 15 years ago.

That old world thing is an aspect of the hill quickly disappearing. Once home to immigrants not allowed to live in the "proper" areas of the city, this old neighborhood, with its less than perfect arrangements, crumbling stoops in front of a less than perfect doors, is literally, loosing ground.

Munjoy Hill • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12" • $250