A Daytrip to Rockport

Last weekend a friend and I decided to take a daytrip to Rockport. Rockport is a charming New England town located on Cape Ann, a peninsula about 35 miles north of Boston.

The town originally thrived as a fishing village and a quarry town, and also was known for the many artists that lived in the area. The small red fishing shack that appears in the first photograph is reported to be one of the most painted and photographed structures in the world. The colorful history of the area includes the 1856 revolt against rum, in which 200 women swept through the town and destroyed anything with alcohol in it, effectively banning alcohol in the town until 2005.

Today the town is a residential tourist town, with many specialty shops and lots of ice cream stands. The harbor is still very active and there are still a number of artists living in the area.

When my friend and I arrived in Rockport, we set off for a place to chill. It was a beautiful day and we could think of no better way to be spending our time. I was armed with my painting easel and a canvas and she with a couple of recent issues of Architectural Digest. We didn’t have to walk far, as soon we came to a rocky bluff that overlooked the harbor.

There is a long history of painters in New England, and I wanted to complete a painting in this tradition. The waters we were looking at were perhaps the same waters that Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper painted, but instead of being burdened by this history, it actually made painting that day quite light-hearted.

The first two images are of Rockport and the last image is of the completed painting, titled A Daytrip to Rockport. While this is far from my favorite painting, and may even border on kitsch, it was great fun to paint, and we had a beautiful and relaxing day in the sun.