Travel to Campobello Island, Part 1

I've just returned from a week in Lubec Maine and New Brunswick Canada on Campobello Island. What a beautiful place! Three of us Ohio plein air painters joined Michael Chesley Johnson for a plein air workshop.

We flew into Bangor Maine on Sunday and rented a car. I reserved a "full size" car because of three women hauling painting supplies and clothes for a week usually means BIG suitcases. The rental agent assured me that we could get it all into a Ford Fusion....barely! I guess what they consider full size is different than what I consider full size... We ended up putting only two suitcases in the trunk with little room to spare and the third in the backseat. It was quite comical that after buying groceries on the way to the rental house, Wendy in the backseat, had to be covered with the grocery bags!

We arrived in Bangor shortly after noon and had some lunch, then got on the road. We headed to Acadia National Park, but unfortunately by the time we arrived, it was rainy and foggy.

Hard to see much of anything. We still had over 2 hours to drive to Lubec, so we headed there to outrun the fog before it got dark.

We rented a nice house in Lubec right beside the Border Control building at the bridge to Canada, and earshot to the fog horn!

That's the "full size" car"

 By the time we got the car unloaded, it was getting dark and really foggy, so we spent the evening getting unpacked and settled.

MONDAY
On Monday, Donna met an old friend to spend the day, and Wendy and I explored Lubec on foot and took lots of photos. We had some lunch at the Wharf restaurant:

and then headed to Canada to check out the island and get our bearings.

Lubec:

That's the bridge to Canada!

The Mulholland lighthouse is in Canada across the water

Mulholland lighthouse

Campobello:

This is the Canada visitor's center, and the view in the distance is across the water at Lubec Maine.

Later, we visited Trina and Michael and chatted about the workshop.

This is Michael's side yard - Fire Weed.

The workshop ran from Tues- Fri 9am-1pm, which gives Michael time to tend to his galleries in the afternoon, and us time to paint more and explore.

TUESDAY
Workshop day 1 painting location was Herring Cove on Campobello. I loved this location. I'm a big fan of moist, green, water views. We had a lesson on painting fog, which was timely because it came and went through the 4 hours of class. In addition to fog, we had to contend with the tide. This area has some of the most dramatic tides in the world.

 In addition to us Ohio painters, Linda (left) from Virginia Beach joined us in the workshop.

Michael's selected view

 

My selected view... which changed constantly

 Then, it got foggier, and foggier....

 And foggier.....

This is how I left it.

 Below is my finished painting after tweaking it a bit at home:

Herring Cove Fog, 8x10, oil on Richeson Gesso Board

 After Michael left at 1pm, we stayed and painted a while longer. On the way back "home" we stopped at Mulholland Lighthouse which is directly across the water from Lubec.

Once back in Lubec, we walked down to Frank's Diner for dinner. While the girls tried the Lobster Roll, I selected the Crab Roll, which I prefer over lobster. It was great. For dessert, we shared the Foghorn Cake which was a warm plum rum spice cake with butter sauce. It was a hit.

WEDNESDAY
On workshop day 2, we met at Racoon Beach. What great views! Michael did a pastel demo:

 I selected this view:

 And Wendy setup right behind me:

I was very happy how I was able to keep the bottom of the beach very loose. I only did a minor correction once I got home:

Racoon Beach, 8x10, oil on Richeson Gesso Board

After painting, we did a bit of exploring:

Then we toured the Roosevelt cottage. I have many photos of the interior, but have selected only a few here:

And headed back across the border for dinner at the Wharf restaurant.

During the summer in Lubec, there is a program called Summer Keys which is workshop for musicians with Juilliard instructors. Each Wednesday evening, the instructors hold a free chamber music recital in one of the churches. We went and it was really hot in there without AC even though outside temps were only in the 60's. The church was packed. The music was not what we expected for chamber music (very creative?? but odd). At intermission, the refreshments were Peruvian chocolate, crab dips, crackers, etc., and a Peruvian drink called Chicha Morado made with purple corn, fruits and spices (good!). We decided to head home instead of staying for the second half.

Unfortunately, I was beginning to feel the effects of catching some kind of bug from the airplane ride. I was running a fever and very hot with a scratchy throat.... ;-(  But I soldiered on....

Continued in the next post........