"Red House, Swim Beach", 6x6 oil on linen- MOnhegan Island, Jaime Wyeth, red house, red famous houses on Monhegan

"Red House, Swim Beach", 6x6 oil on linen
Note: This painting won Second Place in the Fall Member's exhibit at the Venice Art Center!

A few summers ago we visited Monhegan  Island on a hot August day. I couldn't believe that Maine could be so hot, especially some thirty miles out to sea in the cold Atlantic! Well, it was way too hot for me to want to paint outdoors, so instead I dragged all my paint gear around the island shooting photos wherever I went.

The Red House looks out towards the loading dock on the island. It is well known for its distinctive color and over the years has gone through numerous renovations and additions.


From what I understand, the Red House was first immortalized in paint thanks to the Wyeth family, who used to escape the Pennsylvania Chadds Ford heat ('scuse me for laughing!) by going to Maine in the summertime.


Most recently, Jaime Wyeth, son of Andrew Wyeth, spends winter months on the island as well, immersing himself in his paintings. One of those paintings- his depiction of Monhegan's Red House, fetched a whopping $973, 000 at an auction back in 2006. You can see what his painting looks like below:

Since I recently painted on Jaime Wyeth's "Point Lookout Farm" for Plein Air Brandywine Valley, I thought it was kind of cool to realize that there are a couple common interwoven threads in this story.

First off, the very first piece of art that I collected after my marriage in 1971, was a lithograph of the "Hay Ledge" by Andrew Wyeth, Jaime's father. That was  a very special piece that my husband bought for me as a gift after an out of town business trip forced us to be separated for a while. Secondly, I lived in the Brandywine Valley area for most of my life and have collected Wyeth prints for the better part of my married life as well. So painting a scene immortalized by the son of one of my favorite artists, at Monhegan Island- a location that I happen to love,( even though I can't live there!), and having just recently having had the honor to paint at Jaime Wyeth's own residence off of Smiths Bridge Road, just made it all seem serendipitous that I should paint this scene again.

Here's my first painting of the Red House, and I hope you enjoyed learning more about the painting and thanks very much for visiting my blog!