Greenhut Galleries | 7/6-7/29 | Portland, ME

Song of Summer

Colin Page celebrates seascape scenes of Maine in an upcoming show at Greenhut Galleries

Colin Page has lived in Maine for 20 years, not long enough to be a true Mainer, but long enough to have become a renowned interpreter of its life and light in paint. He recalls never having drawn a boat and learning how to do it. “I knew I had made it when a lobsterman would tell me I got the shape of his hull right,” he remarks.

Breaking Light, oil on canvas, 24 x 36"

In Breaking Light, he has mastered the silhouettes of many different lobster boats in the blinding back light of the low sun bouncing off the water—difficult to look at in reality and a challenge for the painter. “My first summer in Maine I tried to paint backlit water with glare. Pigment can’t get as bright as that light,” he says. Subtle gradations of color influence each other on the canvas as well as in our perception. The juxtaposition of thick impasto and thin washes allow us to “see” what we turn away from in nature.

Above and Beyond, oil on linen, 36 x 72"

Page lives in Camden, whose motto for years has been “where the mountains meet the sea.” The phrase is attributed to the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay who often hiked the trails above the town. Page and his daughters hike up Mount Megunticook to the Ocean Lookout with its view of Camden harbor and the nearby islands.

He carries a watercolor set in his car to make sketches and sometimes paints small oils on site. Back in the studio, the small works might inspire a 30-by-40-inch painting.

The Color of Schoodic Rocks, oil on canvas, 30 x 40"

Above and Beyond is an enveloping 3 foot-by-6-foot studio painting inspired by a late afternoon hike to Ocean Lookout. “The coast is so dramatic,” he comments. “The pulsing evening light washes over the water and the islands. In Above and Beyond, values tie the painting together. There are no real darks and no real lights. It’s mostly differences in color temperature, warm and cool, light and dark. In the studio I can pump up the differences to make a realistic color effect.

“When I came to Maine, I thought I’d get away from New York City for a few months,” he explains. “I didn’t know much about Maine. I was blown away by the light and the dynamic landscapes. All the people I met, from artists to lobstermen, were so sincere. People who had moved here came for the right reason—nature. It was refreshing.”

Pointing Out, oil on canvas, 24 x 36"

He says he had “never painted the rocky shore.” Long ago he rose to the challenge. In The Color of Schoodic Rocks, the warm, sunlit rocks contrast with the cool ocean and adjacent woods. The Schoodic Peninsula is a minimally-developed, low-visitation area managed by Acadia National Park, where primal forces compete.

Song of Summer, an exhibition of Page’s recent paintings opens at Greenhut Galleries in Portland, Maine, with a reception on July 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. and runs through July 29. —

Greenhut Galleries 146 Middle Street • Portland, ME 04101• (207) 772-2693 • www.greenhutgalleries.com