‘Wonsqueak’ is an original oil painting by Alison C. Dibble. It is oil paint on panel, 11 x 14 inches, and is original, unique, and handmade. It was painted outdoors, on site, on a balmy day, and of course the tide changed while I was painting it! That’s just one reason to paint quickly; there are others of course, such as (2) the changing light, (3) insects biting, (4) getting hungry, and (5) staving off the temptation to make everything so detailed that I might as well just take a photo instead of charging myself to interpret, to paint the feeling and not the copious small refinements. Here, the feeling is of a breeze on a warm day, fresh salty air, freedom from the to-do list.

Wonsqueak is one of the best-protected small harbors on the coast of Maine, and is a lobster-fishing community just outside the Schoodic Peninsula portion of Acadia National Park. Wonsqueak has incredible charm and for at least the cold part of the year, not much traffic. Here we are looking across the entrance to the harbor, a narrow waterway with pink granite ledges on both sides, and the building on the far side is seen at low tide with the pilings very tall above the floating dock.