Ships Ahoy

Collector's Focus: Marine Art

Introduction By John O’Hern

Rising 780 feet above the sea, Maine’s Mount Battie overlooks Camden Harbor and Penobscot Bay. Captain John Smith (1580-1631) explored the coast of Maine and Massachusetts in 1614 and named the region New England. He described the Camden Hills as “the high mountains of Penobscot, against whose feet doth beat the sea.” In the 19th century, Camden was a shipbuilding town. By the turn of the 20th century, its natural beauty attracted some of the wealthiest families in America who built “cottages” there and contributed generously to the cultural life of the town. It continues to be a much-loved resort town.Marine Arts Gallery, Arctic Glow, Whale Ship Sunbeam, oil, 34 x 50", by Richard K. Loud.

In 1912, Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), who grew up in Camden, first recited her poem Renascence based on her experience of the view from Mount Battie. It begins:

All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked another way,
And saw three islands in a bay.

Colin Page writes, “Painting is how I share the poetry of experience.” His impressionistic View from Battie, captures the scene visually and is about “where land and water meet….” He says his paintings “are about the colors along the coastline and…about how our waterfront engages land and sea. Whatever the subject, color and light are my main attraction to a scene as I start painting.”

The strong light on the bare rock of Mount Battie softens as it reflects off the buildings and boats of Camden Harbor and scintillates on the surface of the water of the bay.Cincinnati Art Galleries, Camden Schooners in Fog, oil on linen, 18 x 24", by Mark Daly

Like Page, Kevin Beers is “from away,” having been born elsewhere but having settled in Maine. Both have embraced the variety of its beauty and its extraordinary light, which they celebrate in their paintings.

Beers arrived seeking the Maine of Edward Hopper, George Bellows and Rockwell Kent, but soon found more. Beers is a man of few words and many paintings. “I don’t believe in long-winded manifestos,” he exclaims. “The paintings can speak for themselves more honestly than anything I could say. I will say that I only paint things for which I have a strong emotional attraction. I am drawn to certain subjects that I return to again and again.”Whether it is Maine’s lighthouses, the Red House on Monhegan Island and its surroundings or his love for old cars and trucks, Beers paints more than his subjects. In his frequent workshops, Beers advises his students not only to look but to see—the unexpected color in shadows and the nuances of light reflecting off surfaces.

In Camden Harbor, the late afternoon sun reflecting off the buildings is almost blinding in comparison to the mountain-shadowed boats and water in the foreground. The rippled reflections in the water and the curves of the boats’ hulls contrast with the rectilinearity of the masts and industrial buildings on the shore.
Greenhut Galleries, View from Battie, oil on canvas, 18 x 24", by Colin PageGleason Fine Art, Camden Harbor, oil, 18 x 24", by Kevin Beers

Mark Daly captures the harbor in a different mood, the monochromatic softness of fog. He grew up on Long Island and was first taught drawing by his mother. His fellow musician friend, Grammy Award-winner Mike Compton, writes, “Mark Daly retains the childlike curiosity to always see something new in the commonplace... always curious, always searching, always energetic, always enthusiastic.”

Daly’s Camden Schooners in Fog depicts a time of calm, the boats safely docked in the enveloping fog when colors and sounds soften.Rehs Contemporary, New York Shipping on the East River, oil on canvas, 20 x 16", by John Stobart.

It is a calm that belies the constant primordial battle between sea and land, but it is also a period of awareness that the sea encourages. E.B. White, who wrote Charlotte’s Web, reminisced, “I think of those first five years in Maine as the time when this happened to me... I was suddenly seeing, feeling, and listening as a child sees, feels, and listens.”

This section is dedicated to marine art, showcasing iconic and striking imagery. Continue reading to hear artists discuss their inspirations and deep love for the genre, and to also gain insights on collecting whether you’re a beginning or seasoned collector. Clockwise from top left: Rehs Contemporary, Squamish Logging Camp, oil on canvas, 10 x 14", by John Stobart; Ray Crane, East Wind, Portland, ME, oil on canvas, 12 x 16"; Lisa Gleim, Summer Schooner, pastel on pastelboard, 18 x 18"; Ray Crane, The Hudson at Anthony’s Nose and Bear Mountain Bridge, oil on canvas, 12 x 18"

Pastel artist Lisa Gleim, American Society of Marine Artists signature member, takes to water like a duck. “Marine scenes resonate deeply with me,” she explains, “both as someone with many fond memories and experiences around oceans and a boating life, and certainly, as an artist. For me, the genre has it all: the magnificent challenge of capturing light and atmospheric effects on still or moving water, painting such reflective surfaces, as well as ships, boats and the shoreline landscapes.” Lisa Egeli, Improbability, oil, 30 x 60"

When someone gazes at Gleim’s piece Sunrise, she hopes the sound of the crashing and receding waves is heard, as in Summer Schooner, one can imagine sails billowing as they fill with wind or feel the warmth of the sun. Also in Sunlit Skiffs, the gentle bumping together. When studying her environment to create a painting, artist Christy Peterson’s goal is to transfer the natural colors of the real world into more idealized hues. “I hope through the use of color and technique my pieces will provide the viewer with a sense of peace and serenity,” she says. Peterson also notes that “when you purchase an original painting, you are acquiring one creative moment in time that is meant to be enjoyed for a lifetime.”Christine D’Addario, Summer Sky Over the Gold Coast, oil, 30 x 40"

Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia represents noteworthy marine artists such as Douglas Martenson. “The coast of Maine is a natural wonder,” says Martenson. “The rocks along the shore are weather-beaten, wounded but enduring. I love the tides and where I go each summer, they vary by 9 feet. At high tide, only the sun-bleached caps of the boulders are visible. As the water recedes, the entire boulder appears, as if a large whale has emerged from the watery depths.“The ocean is mesmerizing,” Martenson says, “and there is something that draws us to the shore; the waves crashing and the smell of the salt air. Collecting these paintings allows one to bring some of these sensations home.”Monique Carr, Stillness, oil on panel, 16 x 12"

Ever since last year, artist Leon F. Ruiz has been working on his latest portfolio titled Sail, On Sailor, which is made up of acrylic and oil paintings that embody emotions of freedom, struggle and empowerment. With COVID-19 changing the lives of the majority of the world and keeping everyone at home, Ruiz has mediated his feelings about the situation by working on this new body of work. By using tight crops, linear perspectives and scale, he has been able to communicate these overwhelming emotions of chaos.

He says, “These boats are representations of my emotional self, so quickly manipulated by natural forces that are out of control. These forces include the strength of the ocean and the mighty wind that can sway a ship in any direction.” Sail on, Sailor is a significant departure from his contemporary work that is done in an abstract manner that is much more fluid and free form. In this series, Ruiz takes control of his paintings by incorporating as much detail as possible into his nautical depictions. Monique Carr, Sky is the Limit, oil on canvas, 36 x 36"

In her paintings, Monique Carr’s goal is to create a certain mood, transforming what is reality into something magical. Carr says, “My imaginative landscapes are a fusion of experience, experiment and emotion. Instead of painting what I see with my eyes, I want to depict my own interpretation of a scene with my soul. Simultaneously, I’m thinking about composition, harmony, colors, luminosity, movement and texture. Atmospheric effects are another wonderful way to create a sense of drama with calm and mystery, which appeals to me.” Collectors can view her recent collection of coastal paintings at Dare Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina. Left column, top to bottom: Ray Crane, The Lettie G. Howard at Gloucester, oil on canvas, 12 x 18"; Lisa Gleim, Sunrise, pastel on pastelbord, 14 x 18"; Lisa Gleim, Sunlit Skiffs, pastel on pastelboard, 16 x 20" Right side: Christy Peterson, Tranquil, oil on canvas, 48 x 24"

Christine D’Addario’s ultimate goal is to form a connection with the viewer by conveying the wide range of powerful feelings experienced at the shore. She combines her extreme love of art and the beach in her exploration of seascape oil paintings. “Through harmonious color, luminous light, and mesmerizing details, I give the viewer a visual cue to take a moment for inner reflection and to refuel the mind and spirit,” she says. “To provide the viewer with a sense of calm, joy or awe through my work is the greatest reward of all.”Copley Society of Art, Silent Shimmer, oil, 17 x 32", by Deborah Quinn-Munson.

Lisa Egeli’s paintings bear witness to nature’s strength and vulnerability, calm and power, light and darkness. They are an effort to make us linger our gaze on, and thus our connection with the world around us. Egeli, who has traveled and painted on location around the world, is a past president and a Fellow in American Society of Marine Artists, a Signature Member of Society of Animal Artists and member of both the century-old Salmagundi Club in New York City and the Washington Society of Landscape Painters. During a career as a professional artist, she has been a passionate observer of nature and her paintings are exhibited and collected internationally.

Egeli explains, “The best collectors are people in tune with how a work of art speaks to them, and they are willing to look for and listen to that connection, with attention especially to quality and the artist’s authentic voice.”Copley Society of Art, Mariquita and Mariette Off Thorness Bay, oil on canvas, 36 x 30", by C.R. Bryant

Marine Arts Gallery is celebrating their 53rd year as a family-run gallery, showcasing classic original works by James E. Buttersworth, Antonio Jacobsen, Montague Dawson and contemporary painters working today: Toby Boothman, Anthony D. Blake and Robert Bolster, to name just a few. “We enjoy working with the seasoned collector as well as those just getting their feet wet in the art of collecting fine art by educating them about our artists and their long-term track records,” explains Peter R. Kiernan, gallery owner. Explore beautiful marine works such as Arctic Glow by Richard K. Loud and Fair Wind by Boothman.Arlon Rosenoff, Just Pleasure, oil, 19 x 32"

As a maritime artist and native of the northeast, artist Ray Crane looks to three nearby regions to provide the settings for his work, all with notable maritime histories: Boston’s North shore and Cape Ann (where the artist lives); the Maine coast and islands; and the navigable part of the Hudson River from Manhattan to the Mohawk River and Erie Canal. “I blend my artistic goals with the significance of these locations,” Crane explains. “In most cases, I also try to depict the ‘scene’ from the perspective of the mariner, looking across the water and back toward land.”

In the piece The Lettie G. Howard at Gloucester, Crane shows the historic “Lettie G. Howard” from New York, maneuvering in the outer harbor off Gloucester’s western shore. “In Gloucester, Massachusetts,” Crane explains, “schooners are frequent visitors during the sailing season, even today.”Clockwise from top left: Lisa Egeli, Together, oil, 24 x 36"; Christy Peterson, Still Waters, oil on canvas, 48 x 24"; Gross McCleaf Gallery, Rocks on the Shore, oil on board, 16 x 24", by Douglas Martenson; Marine Arts Gallery, Fair Wind, Yacht Elana, oil, 29 x 29", by Toby Boothman

Rehs Contemporary in New York City, represents astounding and iconic marine artist John Stobart, who meticulously builds elaborate nautical compositions in painstaking detail; from the historically accurate locations to the rigging on the vessels he recreates. Early on in Stobart’s life, he found a passion for ships and the sea. Most of his career, which spans decades, was spent filling a void left by 19th century artists as they rarely painted American ports and harbors. Now at age 91, and still painting, he is regarded as one of the most important marine painters of the 20th and 21st century—an artist who helped complete American maritime art history.Copley Society of Art, Schooner Windward Approaching Mohegan Island, ME, oil on canvas, 30 x 24", by Frederick Kubitz

Seascapes and maritime scenes have always been a source of inspiration in the work of Tom Swimm. “I am especially drawn to fishing villages and small, colorful boats which lend a sense of story to my paintings,” he says. “Capturing the elusive qualities of water with its various nuances of color reflections, light and movement, challenges my artistic abilities and allows me to refine my methods and techniques with each new work. I strive to capture a moment in time and to communicate my emotions to the viewer, to give them a sense of being there.”Nils Johnson, Corner on the Connecticut, oil on canvas, 50 x 40"These subjects also conjure memories for Swimm that evoke a sense of comfort and solitude. “Studying my family history,” he shares, “I’ve learned that past generations have all been connected to the sea. It’s as if some basic part of me has a connection to them, a feeling that always makes me feel that I am where I belong, that I have ‘come home.’”

Artist Arlon Rosenoff is an expressive, impressionist painter, who works exclusively with the palette knife. He finishes each painting in one sitting (alla prima) and does commissions of nautical as well as other themes. Rosenoff is also known for painting rainy cityscape scenes and beach scenes, but as he puts it, “the reflections of water is what ties them together.” Paintings of water with the palette knife exemplify the fluidity of both, and his paintings often look wet because of the thickness of the paint even long after dry. Tom Swimm, Tranquil Harbor, oil on canvas, 24 x 36"As an avid sailor, Rosenoff is constantly inspired by marine settings, whether out on the open water or at the marina. Many scenes are from Lake Pend Oreille in Northern Idaho, where Rosenhoff calls home and sails year-round.

Coastal New England is the inspiration for the exhibition Connected Land and Sea. The show reflects the important intersections between the land and the sea, ever present in (salient) New England. Artists from across the United States will be on exhibit from June 17 through July 18 at the Copley Society of Art, located on Newbury Street in Boston.Clockwise from top left: Gross McCleaf Gallery, Boat, oil on board, 22 x 15", by Douglas Martenson; Leon F. Ruiz, Chasing a Dream, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 60 x 1½" ; Rehs Contemporary, Unloading in Hong Kong, The “Dashing Wave", oil on canvas, 18 x 24", by John Stobart; Tom Swimm, Perfect Autumn Day, oil on canvas, 30 x 24"; Tom Swimm, Manchester by the Sea, oil on canvas, 24 x 36", Leon F. Ruiz, Something in the Air, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 x 1½"; Leon F. Ruiz, The Crew, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 x 1½"

The Copley Society is honored to welcome the notable artist Donald Demers to jury this National Exhibition and to award several artists for their outstanding “themed” creations. The Alden Bryant Award and the Gazzolla Family award are among the several distinguished prizes to be presented. Since 1879 the Copley Society has endeavored to exhibit the Fine Art of its artist members. The Society has welcomed the artwork of many notable marine artists in previous national marine exhibitions, including Stobart and the now retired J. Russell Jinishian.

Painting water may be the ultimate challenge for artist Nils Johnson. “It is a fun-house mirror which stretches, shrinks, confuses, contorts, distorts, diminishes and distends,” he says. “It never brightens things, but always slightly dulls and warps the land objects showing in it, or the ships, birds or debris floating upon it. The wet stuff is rarely purely blue—its color is mostly what is reflected in it, be it the land, a floating object or at least the clouds, sun, moon or stars in the sky. The trick to painting waves is to figure out the correct shades and tints of blues, greens, browns and purples at play and then to find the angle of the roll and the reflection points of breakers so that the right colors from a maritime palette can be correctly arranged.” —