3rd Annual Northport Plein Air Painting Weekend

If you know Northport, then you know the Shipwreck Diner. If you are of a certain age, then you know it as Otto's Shipwreck Diner. If you are younger, you know it as Tim's Shipwreck Diner. Tim took over from his dad some years ago. Otto still puts on an apron behind the counter there and, when I was painting this, he took a break to come across the street and take a look at what I was painting.

Although he seemed to like what he saw, he didn't llinger. "Gotta get back," he said. "Don't want to lose my job!" Then as if to reinforce his opinion of my work he said, "Show that to the boss!"

The Shipwreck Diner is where my wife and I had our first date. It was also used in the filming of the movie, "In and Out" starring Kevin Kline, Tom Selleck and Joan Cusack.

This 9 x 12 inch oil will be in the silent auction at the LaMantia Gallery tomorrow afternoon between 1 and 3 pm.

Pilgrim, Islesford, Maine

I think I might title this one, 'Once Again,' although I like the name of the boat herself, 'Pilgrim.' I liked the color possibilities in the faded yellow of the boat, the maroon below her water line, all the greenery of the trees and yard surrounding the boat. This scene was up the road from where we stayed on Little Cranberry Island.

The lettering on the stern and a number of other details I'll save as the final stage of this painting. For now I'm just trying to get the larger areas of color right.

Sketchbook drawings from Maine

We spent a week on Little Cranberry Island, a few miles southeast of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. We were there the last week of May, a time when it's still pretty cool and, in our case, fairly wet as well. Individually and as a community, the people on this island are very friendly, smart and helpful. Lobstermen, for the most part. Renee bought lobster for dinner right on the dock and my brother made a rhubarb pie from a brief harvest of the garden.

John brought along his dog, Bo, a lab who enjoyed daily dips into the ocean, each of which inevitably culminated in the near-euphoric discovery of yet another waterlogged, saliva-saturated stick proudly laid at his master's feet.

Access is by ferry. We stayed at the former Braided Rugs Inn, a big old Victorian with its own impressive library, accumulated over the life of the house. Josephine's House, as it is now called by islanders, is across the street from the island's post office and a few short steps from the elementary school -- a school that this year had an enrollment, I was told, of 12 or so.