If you love art and you love Ogunquit, mark Saturday, September 12 on your calendar.

The Ogunquit Perkins Cove Plein Air Painting Event returns for its sixth year, bringing more than 100 artists outside to paint the places we all know and love. Perkins Cove, the Marginal Way, the beach, the harbor, and little corners throughout town.

For us at Maine Art Hill, this event feels especially meaningful this year. This is our first season with a gallery in Ogunquit, and one of the things we have loved most about being here is discovering just how deeply art is woven into this town. It isn't simply something you find hanging on gallery walls. Art is part of Ogunquit's history and part of what continues to make this community so special. On September 12, you get to watch that tradition happen right in front of you.

Watch a Painting Come to Life

Beginning at 8:00 am, artists will spread out across Ogunquit with easels, paints, brushes, and blank canvases. If you've never watched an artist paint en plein air, it is worth slowing down for. A blank canvas becomes the harbor. A few strokes become a boat. Shadows appear. The ocean changes color. People walk in and out of the scene. The light moves—and the artist has to move with it.

That's part of what makes plein air painting so fascinating. There is no controlling the environment. The artist is capturing a real place, at a real moment, on a particular day. By afternoon, the paintings are finished.

Yes, the Paint Might Still Be Wet

After painting concludes at 1:00 pm, the work comes together for judging and the afternoon Wet Paint Sale. We love the idea behind this. These aren't paintings that have spent months tucked away in a studio. You may have walked past the artist creating one that very morning. A few hours later, it is finished, framed, and available to take home.

The Wet Paint Sale runs from 1:30–4:00 pm, and approximately $9,000 in prizes will be awarded to participating artists. There are also special awards celebrating the things that make Ogunquit unmistakably Ogunquit, including Best Use of Light, Quintessential Perkins Cove, and Best Depiction of the Marginal Way.

That last one feels particularly special this year as the Marginal Way celebrates its 100th anniversary.

Don't Rush Through This One

Our suggestion? Make a day of it. Start with coffee and a walk through Perkins Cove. Find a few artists whose paintings catch your attention and stop for a minute to watch. Then keep wandering. Walk part of the Marginal Way. Have lunch. Listen to the music. Go back and see how those paintings have changed since the morning. You may be surprised by what an artist noticed that you walked right past.

Live music will also be happening in Perkins Cove throughout the day, with Beau Dalleo from 10:00 am–1:00 pm, followed by Lisa Mills and the Ocean Ave Band from 1:00–4:00 pm. And then, of course, head to the Wet Paint Sale to see how it all turned out.

Saturday, September 12, 2026

8:00 am–1:00 pm — Plein Air Painting Competition
10:00 am–1:00 pm — Live Music with Beau Dalleo
1:00–2:00 pm — Competition Judging
1:00–4:00 pm — Live Music with Lisa Mills and the Ocean Ave Band
1:30–4:00 pm — Wet Paint Sale

Throughout Perkins Cove, Marginal Way & Ogunquit
Free to attend
Rain Date: Sunday, September 13

And Come Say Hello

While you're wandering through Ogunquit, come see us at Maine Art Hill Ogunquit, 307 Main Street. We're just a short walk from the center of town and right next to the trolley stop.

We opened our Ogunquit gallery earlier this summer, and this first season has given us an even greater appreciation for this town's extraordinary relationship with art. For more than a century, artists have come to Ogunquit because of the ocean, the architecture, the working harbor, the landscape, and, of course, that famous Maine light.

On September 12, you'll have the chance to see all of it through their eyes. Come for the paintings, stay for the music, wander the Cove, walk the Marginal Way, visit the galleries, and enjoy a September day in Ogunquit completely devoted to art.

We can't think of a much better way to spend a Saturday.

FMI https://ogunquitperkinscovepleinair.com

Visit Maine Art Hill, Ogunquit

📍 307 Main Street, Ogunquit
📞 207-646-0396

Gallery Hours

Monday–Saturday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Sunday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.