North Head Soldier
by Martha Johnson
acrylic on panel
12" x 12", 2010
GRAND MANAN ISLAND has inspired artists and writers from Canada and New England for more than a century. Canadian painters including the Group of Seven's Arthur Lismer and A.Y Jackson both painted on Grand Manan—smoke sheds and wharfs, dramatic lighthouses, meadows of wild-flowers and rugged coastal rock formations. Willa Cather was a regular visitor in her prime writing days. She vacationed each summer in a style that still attracts American visitors.
The island is 17 miles long and 9 miles wide. We have lots of territory to cover, with new vistas each day. Every workshop morning we drive to a fresh or favorite location, to spend the day sketching, painting, taking photos. The island provides seacoast cliffs, lighthouses, beaches, old fishing sheds, harbours and meadows. You will come away with a series, each visual its own work or an inspiration for a larger painting.