Hump Day Art -- A Founder of Impressionism

On a visit to the Blue Hill Bay Gallery, in Blue Hill, Maine, this painting was on display, but was just sold for (listed price $4,500). It is by Charles-François Daubigny, a French artist that lived from 1817-1878. He was one of the painters of the Barbizon school (not to be confused with the modeling school), and is considered an important precursor of Impressionism.

Daubigny was born into a family of painters and initially he painted in a traditional style, but this changed after 1843 when he settled in Barbizon to work outside in nature. On his famous boat Botin, which he had turned into a studio, he painted along the Seine and Oise, often in the region around Auvers. From 1852 onward he came under the influence of Gustave Courbet.

In 1866 Daubigny visited England and met Claude Monet, and together they left for the Netherlands. Back in Auvers, he met Paul Cézanne, another important Impressionist. It is assumed that these younger painters were influenced by Daubigny.

The director of the Blue Hill Bay Gallery told the story that the idea of using his boat for a studio to capture the changing light of the landscape was imitated by Monet, who did the same thing, but with much greater success. The historical significance of Daubigny's work is its influence on these great Impressionists. This landscape depicting a sunset was professionally laid onto a canvas by a restorer, probably in the first half of the 20th Century. It was sold in its original gilded frame. The photo was taken with my iPhone. It is an oil painting on canvas (relaid onto canvas).

We purchased a painting from this Blue Hill gallery on Monday. More about that later.

The Porcupine that Lives Under the Porch

This porcupine stays under the porch all day and comes out at dusk.
Welcome to Maine.

Sunny Foggy Day

The sun has finally come out, but the fog is thicker than before. The
lighthouse isn't even visible from our porch. At least it is warmer.

Lobster Roll Ready for Pick-up

The sun is out and it is warm in Blue Hill -- in the mid-70s. I'm
writing this from back at the house on Little Deer Isle, only about 10
miles away. It is still foggy and in the low 60s here.

Though I didn't get a lobster roll, this is what they look like. It's
chunks of lobster in mayo on a hotdog-like bun. I have had them
before. They are very rich and delicious.

Fishnet Menu

Late Lunch at the Fishnet

We're having a late lunch at the Fishnet, a roadside food stand in
Blue Hill, Maine. It isn't exactly fancy, but the food is very good.
I'm going to try the crabcake sandwich. I'm sure Shane will get a
burger.

I'm waiting on Shane to check his work emails on his Blackberry. He's
been very good about not doing it too often. It helps that we don't
get a signal at our house and he can only do it when we come into town.

Shane Kayaking in Maine

Kayaking on Eggemoggin Reach

Shane and I took the kayaks out on the reach in front of our house.
Though it is still foggy and it started misting a bit, the water was
dead calm. It was beautiful.

Foggy Morning at Pumpkin Island Lighthouse

At least the rain has stopped for now. It is a beautiful, quiet
morning. This is the scene from our porch. We hope to see a little
sunshine later today.

Popovers at Jordan Pond House, Acadia National Park

It was another bad weather day here in Maine, but we made the best of it. I went for a cool, misty 5-mile run this morning from Moose & Squirrel to the Little Deer Isle, ME, post office. After my shower, we went into nearby Blue Hill and did a couple galleries. We actually bought a painting, but I write more about that later. Then we drove over to Acadia National Park to have a late lunch at the famous Jordan Pond House, which is famous for its popovers.

For anyone who hasn't had a popover before, they are buttery, eggy rolls that are quite a challenge to make well. I have made them before, and have had spotty luck with them. Jordan Pond House does an excellent job, especially when you drown them in butter and strawberry jam. They bring you one as an appetizer and we had one for dessert also.

For a main course, Shane had the lobster quiche with a side salad. It was awesome. I had a few bites. I had the crab cakes covered in some kind of sauce with rice and steamed veggies. It was OK, but I should have gotten the quiche.

Afterwards, we drove into Bar Harbor and did some shopping. By the time we got home, the misty rain had turned into a heavy fog, and we could hardly make out the lighthouse from our porch.

By the way, it is quite a tech challenge to post on my blog. The only computer at the house is a laptop with a dial-up connection, which is very slow and loses the connection constantly. I have been able to post some things directly from my iPhone, but it is very difficult to get a signal on my phone also. I have to stand on one foot out on the porch with the phone aimed in just the right direction. I managed to email the above photos to my email account, and slowly download them onto the very slow laptop and then upload them onto the blog. Very tedious. More later.

Wine by the Fire

We're back at Moose & Squirrel and relaxing in front of a roaring fire with some Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sunday Dinner

I got a mess of fried shrimp at the Bagaduce Lunch, a roadside joint on the Bagaduce River. Shane had already wolfed down his cheeseburger by the time I took this picture. They have picnic tables, but because of the weather we ate in the car.

Kneisel Hall Concert

This is the stage of Kneisel Hall. It's a rainy day in Maine, but a
good day to see and hear a concert.

Intermission at Kneisel Hall

We're seeing a classical music concert at the classical music school
in Blue Hill, Maine. Next up is Dvorak!

Rainy Day Lighthouse

We woke up to a gentle rain and it has showered all morning. We're
out on the covered porch relaxing and reading.

Loopy for Lupine in Maine

The Lupine are blooming like crazy all over Down East Maine. These
are in front of Moose & Squirrel, the house we're renting on Little
Deer Isle.

Relaxing on the Porch

Our first day at Moose & Squirrel and life is good. We saw a pod of
porpoises (or dolphins) near our house and discovered a huge porcupine
living under the porch. Maine is wild.

Maine Vacation Staples

All these bottles of wine will be history this time next week.

Heading for Moose & Squirrel -- Our Maine Vacation Part 1

Get used to seeing the lighthouse pictured above -- there may be a few more posts that feature it in the coming week. It is the Pumpkin Island Lighthouse off the coast of Little Deer Isle, Maine. It is what we will be mostly looking at for the next week. We are once again renting "Moose & Squirrel," the yellow house in the photo above. This is our third year and we'll be there for two separate weeks this year. We arrive on Saturday for our first week, and then have another week set for the end of August.

The bad news is the weather report for the upcoming week is rain and more rain. It doesn't matter. We love to sit on the porch of that old house and read and relax. We'll visit our land in nearby Segdwick, ME, and go out to eat at the Fish Net in Blue Hill. We also might travel up to Acadia National Park and have some popovers at the Jordan Pond House.

We leave tomorrow afternoon, overnight in Conneticutt, and arrive at Moose & Squirrel Saturday afternoon. Shane and I have been looking forward to this week for months.

What's New Buenos Aires?

SC Governor Mark Sanford was recently seen strolling through the airport humming some tune from Evita. The anti-gay rights Republican was so worried about the sanctity (hehe, I almost said titty) of marriage that he claimed it would be ruined by allowing homosexuals to participate. Obviously, he did not realize that boinking another individual outside of his own marriage would do any damage to the institution. I think a better idea to protect the sanctity of marriage would be not to allow anyone to get married that ruined an actual marriage by his or her own infidelity.

My favorite part of this whole story was this line from an article in the Washington Post describing his press conference announcing the little boo boo: “As Sanford digressed about his boyhood adventures on the Appalachian Trail and airplane trips around the world with just $100 in emergency money, about "God's law" and moral absolutes, people standing behind him in the Capitol Rotunda could be seen smirking.” What a dumbass.