“Nature, like a loving mother, is ever trying to keep land and sea, mountain and valley, each in its place, to hush the angry winds and waves, balance the extremes of heat and cold, of rain and drought, that peace, harmony, and beauty may reign supreme.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton

On Saturday, May 24, Maine Art Hill in Kennebunk is thrilled to host Liz Hoag and Ellen Welch Granter’s spring show, Land and Sea, at 5 Chase Hill Road in Kennebunk. The show opens at 10 AM with an artists’ reception from 5-7 PM. This event is open to everyone, and no ticket is required. The show runs until June 11, giving you ample time to come and experience the art. 

Land and sea surround you no matter where you wander in New England. Whether you treasure the ocean waves, the cool forests, the babbling brooks, or the wild rocky coast, you will find it here and so much more. In turn, you will find it reproduced in the art that also fills this area. 
 

Virtual Tour of Land and Sea

Artist Ellen Welch Granter says it best. “Whether it is the vast expanse of the ocean and sky, the delicate beauty of birds and beaches, the humble rowboats and their moorings, the soothing blues and grays, the glints of gold, or the everyday backyard birds on chainlink fences, each holds a personal significance, weaving a narrative that is uniquely mine.”

Granter, an oil painter known for her love of nature, especially the winged creatures that cohabitate with us here in New England, thrives physically and spiritually in the habitat she has created in and around her studio in coastal Massachusetts.  Her meditation comes in the form of canvas and paint, and she is a master.

“I had an artist friend once say that it was so difficult to find something worth painting,” explains Granter. “This group of paintings includes a kingfisher on a branch, a scuffle among house sparrows for a muffin wrapper on a city sidewalk, and a view of a marsh glimpsed through the branches of a sumac grove. Although these things are not at all difficult to find, they are the things that I feel are worth painting. Maybe my standards are low. Perhaps they aren't lofty subjects. What I find worth painting is often what I find worth looking at.”

Virtual Tour of All Available Work from Ellen Welch Granter

This is also true for artist Liz Hoag. She is very particular about what makes something “paint worthy.”

Hoag says, “My work is about finding beauty and balance in the everyday. Much of what I paint is ordinary, like the treetops in a neighborhood just before the sun sets. These are the things we pass by, yet if we stop for a second, we notice how dramatic they genuinely are. Paths, trees, branches, color, light, air, open space, water, we have it all here in Maine.”

Hoag likes interacting with local scenes: wooded paths, Maine's beautiful coastline, or working waterfronts. Whether it's a coastal or a woodland scene, she loves the peace her painting style brings. Using primarily acrylic paint on canvas, she captures the feeling of a place or thing, the quiet and the calm, by focusing on the view and the light.

“These paintings genuinely reflect the feel of the moment when I was in this beautiful place. The view choice is my work's first and most crucial component,” shares Hoag. “The second is the light. I don’t even have a starting place if the light isn't right. It needs balance. Even if there’s movement, the balance in a view makes an image feel complete.”

All in all, no matter what you love about this incredible area, it will be forever captured on the walls of Maine Art Hill. Visit and see for yourself.

Virtual Tour of All Available Work from Liz Hoag