#389 • Maine's Landscape Quilt!

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Once in a while I’ll be driving the backroads to Maine's western mountains in a minor cruise controlled-induced daze when as I crest another hill, a patchwork of colors and textures pokes me awake. The foothills are special that way, especially where remnants of dairy farms still dominate the landscape.

Not as cultivated and manicured as other states in New England I’ve been through, Maine can be proud of the inconsistent stitches of many different minds and hands that create the diverse landscape quilt it is.

Maine's Landscape Quilt • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12"  • $250

#388 • Summering in Maine

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Summering in Maine

So Marge, is it lupīne or lupin(e)? 

Summering in Maine • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12"• $250

#387 • The Old Fart and the Heron

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This painting was inspired by a sailor I know - name never to be divulged for obvious and libelous reasons, and a special experience Tom and I had on our boat with one of his favorite feathered friends.

It was a beautiful sunny Maine morning out on North Haven island. I was cooking up some blueberry pancakes down in the galley when I sensed a not-usually-there-and-moving-but-staying-in-place-shadow cross the cockpit out of the corner of my eye. I then heard what sounded like something out of Jurassic Park. As I cautiously peeked wide-eyed around the edge of the companionway, I was surprised by a hulking presence perched on the lifeline. I quickly ducked back inside and waved Tom over - for protection of course!

We then both cautiously peeked around the companionway like two kids sure they were going to see a buzzard, me with my spatula just in case. Much to our great surprise we saw an immature heron balancing on our port side lifeline. Normally very shy, and certainly not what one would imagine to be as agile and athletic as a tightrope walker based on shape alone, I think the little one - though not so little, was just plain clueless about the do's and don'ts of human interaction.

Of course it flew away after one more peek, but we were both blown away by this visitation.

The Old Fart and the Heron • 8" X 8" acrylic framed to 12" X 12" • $250

#386 • The Work To Be Done

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I was working on this before the latest civil unrest. I wanted to depict a neighborhood before Covid-19 - a bunch of kids doing their own thing together in a safe space. It was simply a privileged white girl's selfish idea of getting back to the garden.

There's way more to it now. It's a quest for me to see if community can exist like a beautiful colorful quilt -  patches of all kinds of cloth held together by little uneven stitching done by many hands. It's also a quest to try to understand others, and until I get it, to practice civility in the meantime.

No lecture here - I have my own dance with tolerance and civility going on.  But if there's one thing I've learned this past week, it's that the most important work to be done is in our own hearts, minds and communities before we can even think about sharing it.

The Work To Be Done • 8" X 8" watercolor framed to 12" X 12" • $250 

To see more of my work, please visit my website http://www.claudiadiller.com