Up, Up and Away

Painters' umbrellas cascading down the slope. (Photo by Carol L. Douglas.)

Painters’ umbrellas cascading down a slope. (Photo by Carol L. Douglas.)

This morning we head up to Corea, ME, perhaps the most perfect fishing village on the Maine coast.

Water color of the church, Corea, ME., 1945. Marsden Hartley papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Water color of the church, Corea, ME., 1945. Marsden Hartley papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

On Wednesday a local told me how to find the house in which Marsden Hartley stayed while painting in Corea. It’s a grey shingle house past the post office. That’s easy enough, except that much of Corea is weathered shingles.

The post office at Corea, ME. Maine has kind of a hammer-lock on cool post offices.

The post office at Corea, ME. Maine has kind of a hammer-lock on cool post offices.

Fishing boats and piers will be a great coda to a week spent painting rocks and sky and surf. And Corea has more fishing pier per square foot than almost any place I know.

Is this the “real Maine” people are so intent on finding? No more so than any other village, of course, but it is almost perfectly untouched by mass culture. In fact, that’s the case of most of the coast north of Ellsworth—you enter an older world of automobile tourism. The galleries and cheek-by-jowl restaurants are gone, replaced by spruce and sea. As gorgeous as it is, however, you will lack some of the basic amenities most of us take for granted. For example, you’ll only pass two pharmacies in the two-hour drive between Ellsworth and Lubec.

Ellen Joyce Trayer's lovely block-in of rocks at Schoodic Point. (Photo by Carol L. Douglas.)

Ellen Joyce Trayer’s lovely block-in of rocks at Schoodic Point. (Photo by Carol L. Douglas.)

Most of my painters check out from Schoodic Institute this morning. We’ll paint during the day and scramble back to our home bases this afternoon.

People naturally ride-share most of the week, so the jumble of painting supplies in each car must be sorted. Borrowed items must be returned to their owners and personal possessions packed. The Dictator (that’s me) decreed that we be ready to roll by 8:30 AM. I have only myself to blame for having to get up at 4 AM today.

Nancy Woogen always chooses a niche from which to paint. (Photo by Carol L. Douglas.)

Nancy Woogen always chooses a niche from which to paint. (Photo by Carol L. Douglas.)

I’m leaving on a jet plane at 0:dark:30 tomorrow night. I’ll meet my family on Sunday morning in Chicago, after which we will drive to Anchorage, AK. That’s my idea of a vacation.

These 15-hour days are wearing me out, so I plan on sleeping through Wisconsin and perhaps Minnesota.

Victoria Brzustowicz and the sheer joy of painting. (Photo by Kari Ganoung Ruiz.)

Victoria Brzustowicz and the sheer joy of painting. (Photo by Kari Ganoung Ruiz.)

I’m up on the Schoodic Peninsula in beautiful Acadia National Park, teaching. Interested in next year’s Maine workshop? Email me.

Carol Douglas

About Carol Douglas

Carol L. Douglas is a painter who lives, works and teaches in Rockport, ME. Her annual workshop will again be held on the Schoodic Peninsula in beautiful Acadia National Park, from August 6-11, 2017. Visit www.watch-me-paint.com/ for more information.