Arc Light 24x48 Oil on Canvas $5500
There is a rare kind of painter who can transform a landscape into a memory. Craig Mooney is one of them.
With Coastal Light, his newest body of work, Mooney returns to the Maine coast not just with brush in hand, but with reverence in his heart. “My aim in this latest body of work is to reveal my close association with the sublime beauty of this part of the world,” he shares.
Canyon Light 24x24 Oil on Canvas $4500
Mooney’s relationship with Maine began when he was just nine years old. “I boarded a Trailways bus as an awestruck city kid to spend eight weeks at camp,” he recalls. “Since then, I’ve made a yearly pilgrimage back.” That lifelong connection has shaped his artistic voice, quiet, atmospheric, and deeply personal.
The paintings in Coastal Light are evocative and reflective, inviting the viewer to pause and absorb the subtle beauty of shifting skies, rolling tides, and timeworn shorelines. “Some of these works have a nod to the tonalists of the late 19th century,” Mooney says, referencing “the brooding moodiness of cool skies and earthy grounds found along the shorelines.”
Daydreams 24x24 Oil on Canvas $4500
But Mooney isn’t interested in precise replicas of place. “I don’t paint places so much as I paint the feeling of being in them,” he explains. “The way the light catches in the mist, the way the horizon breathes. That’s what I’m chasing.”
Each canvas becomes a return, not only to the landscape but to a deeper emotional connection. “There’s a kind of quiet in this region that seeps into everything. Into the rocks, the clouds, the tide. I try to let that stillness guide my brush.”
Coastal Light is both a celebration and a meditation. Through it, Mooney invites viewers into his long-standing relationship with the coast, a place that continues to stir wonder, reflection, and gratitude.
The exhibition Coastal Light will be on view from August 9 through 27 at Maine Art Hill, located at 5 Chase Hill Rd in Kennebunk, Maine. The gallery is open daily at 10 AM. For more information, visit maine-art.com, email info@maine-art.com, or call 207-967-2803.