My husband and I went to Maine last week to attend the Boothby family’s 100th reunion. We stayed in Cornish, Maine, a tiny township in what they call southern Maine. The reunion was in the next town over, called Limington.
To keep the character of Cornish Township authentic, they have some zoning laws that prevent new-style buildings
from being built in the center of town. The center of town was only about 3 blocks long so there was a lot of room to build anything else out further down the road, including hardware stores and a restaurant called “Phat Boys”. (and yes, they were!)
We were particularly impressed with this antique store, the loving detail that showed in the way it was constructed, finished and then cared for. We bought a Pennsylvania Barn Star there, you can just barely see them on each side of the entrance of the building.
We stayed at a place called the Cornish Inn. It’s the building on the right with the red roof. In the center house, I saw a tiny elderly lady come out and check her mail. I loved her pink door which nicely offset the copper (green) roof and white house. I did not finish this little painting because it began to rain. A “rare” Summer Northeaster blew in, and eventually it poured.
As for the Boothbys, one of the first houses built in the are belonged to a Boothby but it burned down many years ago. The street is still named Boothby road.
Painting “Plein Aire” means I was outside with my little pad sketching and painting.
Archive for the ‘historic’ Category
Cornish, Maine – plein aire
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
By the big barn
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
From the number of dilapidated huge barns that we see on our bike rides, western Washington state used to be a big dairy producer. Every one of these barns shows pride, industry and independence to me. Some of them are unique.
This is another painting based on my husband’s collection of photographs. We rode by this barn on our tandem and had to stop to gaze at it. I confess that it is actually more decrepit in person than it appears here.
A log cabin past its prime
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Bicycling is one of our hobbies, we cover a lot of miles on country roads at a leisurely pace. Unlike traveling in a car, we are exposed to the elements, the smells and the sights that you might miss at high speed. On a bike it is easy to stop to pick some flowers, or feed grass to a friendly horse. Near Winthrop, Washington, we found this cabin in a field. It was important to take a photo of it, because we knew that it would eventually collapse. Many of the barns and buildings that my husband has captured with his camera are now gone. The reference for this one was one of his photos.
First Georgetown – Seattle Farmer’s Market
Monday, June 7th, 2010
After weeks and weeks of dreary grey, Saturday dawned with a brilliant light, and the air was sweet. I had already missed the Columbia City Farmer’s market 3 weeks in a row, because every Wednesday in May was rainy and I just didn’t feel like riding my bike down there to walk around in the rain. So I woke up with a plan. I was going to be one of the first people in Seattle to attend the first farmer’s market ever – in the Georgetown Neighborhood.
I got there a few minutes after 10 in the morning and the new location was full of booths and cars were clogging the streets. Since I was on my bike I didn’t have to deal with the parking lot, with attendants waving flags around at the crowds in an effort at maintaining order.
There were a lot of wonderful happenings there that day, and every single person out there was happily taking in the fresh bright sunlight and fresh air. One particular booth, from Full Circle Farms caught my eye. This lovely young vendor was surrounded by her delicate spring vegetables and I had to paint her.
Old Time Music – All in the family
Monday, September 21st, 2009
It seems that we have a family tradition, it is old time music. Donald’s mother remembers her own grandfather playing fiddle tunes. My son is lucky enough to own the fiddle he played them on.
Little did we know that so many years ago that old time music would bring so many different parts of our family together and provide a common language across the generations. A little Irish, a little Appalachian, a little gospel, and a little northwest can describe this kind of music – mostly instrumental, with a few songs thrown in. This painting shows cousins and a grand-daughter; they know the same tunes.
1950 Buick Roadmaster
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Twas a time when gas was so cheap, that luxury cars could weigh tons. And to some people, my uncle Charlie Malle, in fact, a car was a thing of beauty. He spent a lot of time waxing and shining his cars. This is his Buick Roadmaster. Decorating the hood is my Aunt Tess.
Light Rail in South East Seattle!
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
Ever since I rode the tram to Rome, I have been excited about Light Rail, so when our lives were disrupted for over 3 years of construction, I was a lot more patient with it than you might expect from me. And yesterday, July 18th was opening day. Here in my neighborhood, they planned a little party and I was invited as an artist to attend and I shared a tent with Seanna Jordan, who paints whimsical colorful pet portraits. It was a riot. I sold commemorative paintings like this one to Greg Nickels, to wannabe King County Executive Larry Phillips, and I made a special one for Tom Rauf, one of the movers and shakers who is building the new Condominiums called “The Station at Othello” I painted a representation of his own buildings in the painting for him. I had watched him musing over the others and I guessed that he might like one that included his dream. I also met the author of “oldladyonabike” blog, Mona Lee.
My husband and I hopped aboard the light rail to discover — new light rail smell! a lot like new car smell, only different. We rode to Tukwila and back and except for the long lines at Tukwila, we had a great time. The views as you head towards the airport are great. Together with all the other people in our car, we wondered where we will put our luggage when we finally do have the opportunity to take this train to the airport.
It was a fun day!
The Jive Cats
Friday, March 13th, 2009
Inspired by a beautiful photograph taken by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration in 1938, I painted this as a companion piece to “He sure can play that guitar”
This painting was sold and will be living in Athens, Georgia with two of my dearest friends.
Grandpa bought a salmon at Celilo Falls
Monday, December 29th, 2008
Every one of my husband’s siblings has one of these little black and white photos. It’s blurry and washed out, but Grandpa Tom Boothby has a salmon in his hand. Whenever my husband sees this photo, he explains how when he was a little kid, Indians used to fish at Celilo falls, but then they put in a dam which flooded the falls and ended the fishing. Apparently from before time began, the Indians fished this way; with plank scaffolds perching them above the falls. But the photo just didn’t show much, so, impressed by his zeal, I always listened to the story but failed to connect. I decided that was not enough. It would be so much better to place grandpa in front of a waterfall that could be seen. And here he is. In the painting,it was rather surprising to see just how much my husband resembles his grandfather; and actually, my husband is about the same age now as his grandfather is depicted in this painting.
