“You have a crush on each and every boat,” my spouse as soon as mentioned. Of all the boats I’ve ever cherished, schooner American Eagle is at the best of the list. She’s not the only windjammer I admire, or even the only windjammer I’ve painted. But I get to train on her every single yr, she’s usually in fantastic nick and I under no circumstances have to do any of the upkeep. Which is down to Captain John Foss, who restored her impeccably, and Captain Tyler King, who’s trying to keep up the superior get the job done.

I grew up in western New York, wherever my loved ones held a 30′ wooden sloop, first at Buffalo on Lake Erie and then at Wilson on Lake Ontario. As a child, I figured that because the Great Lakes are smaller than the ocean, they need to be safer. It’s only been given that I have moved to the Maine coast that I’ve understood how extraordinary the climate in my hometown of Buffalo is. The Wonderful Lakes are vulnerable to unpredictable squall traces, seiches, and storm surges. Electrical storms are incredibly prevalent, even in winter, when they develop the phenomenon known as thundersnow. Periodically, the drinking water in Lake Ontario turns more than, creating a apparent, sudden alter in the temperature that benefits in fog. The Fantastic Lakes have significant freighter targeted visitors and fog can drop in an quick. It’s less nerve-wracking now, but in my youth “onboard electronics” have been minimal to operating lights.

On the other hand, the Wonderful Lakes are constantly deep. If you can get out of the harbor channel without the need of grounding on your own on very last winter’s silt, you’re not likely to hit everything submerged. Which is distinct from the Maine coast, in which rocks adhere inconveniently out of the drinking water, or worse, not quite out of the drinking water. When I to start with sailed on schooner American Eagle, I told Captain John that the thing that gave me pause about potting all over in the ocean by myself is not figuring out what was on the bottom. “Lobster traps, quite much,” he laughed. And sailors currently all use depth finders, which take the activity out of holing one’s hull.

Having said that, the temperature on the Maine Coastline is merely not as foul as it is on Lake Ontario. (A pal who life in Scotland tells me that Rochester is additional dreich in late tumble and winter season than is Edinburgh.) It rains fewer right here, and there are less storms.

I see boats as potent symbols of the human affliction. We’re often possibly sailing into trouble or having ourselves out of it. Breaking Storm, over, is about the latter, and I have obtained a portray of the windjammer Angelique on my easel which is about the former. (Sorry about that, Captains Dennis and Candace!)

Breaking Storm is my favorite of all my schooner American Eagle paintings, but I recognize it may possibly be way too huge and expensive for some persons. That is why I painted American Eagle rounding Owls Head, just 6X8. It’s softer and additional suggestive than the more substantial painting, and there is no perception that the storm has abated.

Of study course, if you sail with us in September, you can paint your possess version of sailing on the Maine coastline. But if you cannot go adventuring with us, a portray is every bit as superb.

My 2024 workshops:

• Painting in Paradise: Rockport, ME, July 8-12, 2024.
• Sea & Sky at Schoodic, August 4-9, 2024.
• Find your genuine voice in plein air: Berkshires, August 12-16, 2024.
• Art and Adventure at Sea: Paint Aboard Schooner American Eagle, September 15-19, 2024.
• Immersive In-Individual Workshop: Rockport, ME, October 7-11, 2024.