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Autumn in Little Red
River |
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Every autumn, Don
Demers and a group of his friends (including artist Chris Blossom) meet in
East Boothbay, Maine, to enjoy the tranquility of the coastal town. "The
clean and low light is distinct from summer light," says Demers. "It's great
for painting." Standing on the banks of an offshoot of the Damariscotta
River, the artist painted this tranquil New England scene.
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Limited Edition Print |
Image Size:10" x 8"
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$235.00 (cdn) |
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Returning the Pilot,
1900 |
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The year is 1900.
The steamship Virginian sets sail from Boston Harbor for Liverpool. On board
for the departure is a pilot, familiar with local waters, who will aid the
steamship captain in navigating through the waters around Massachusetts.
Once the ship has left the coastline, the pilot returns to shore via a small
boat, in this case, the pilot’s schooner Varuna.
Rowing across the
ocean “was an everyday job for these guys. Something like this could happen
to someone like us once and we’d talk about it for the rest of our lives.
These guys did this every week.”
-Don Demers |
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Fine Art giclee on canvas |
Image Size: 33" x 22" |
$
945.00 (cdn) |
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End of
Day One: The Great Transatlantic Race, 1866
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Trans-ocean racing
is still a relatively new sport, but was simply unheard of in the 19th
century. A lively dinner discussion at New York's Union Club in
October 1866 resulted in the first Trans-Atlantic challenge. The contenders:
Pierre Lorillard's Vesta, George and Franklin Osgood's Fleetwing and New
York Herald founder's son, James Gordon Bennett Jr.'s Henrietta-all two-masted
schooners. It was a winner-take-all -$30,000 plus bragging rights. On the
morning of December 16, the starting gun was sounded and the vessels weighed
anchor in the New York Narrows. Next stop-Cowes, England. Demers' evocative
painting depicts the end of the first day, the vessels having logged nearly
300 miles and still in sight of each other. By day two Fleetwing had a
twenty-mile lead on Henrietta and a forty-mile lead on Vesta. The racing was
serious. Remarkably, after 3,000 miles of intense sailing all three yachts
finished within hours of each other. On December 26 at 3:46pm Henrietta was
first, followed by Fleetwing at 1:00am and the ill fated Vesta, whose local
English pilot had taken them in the wrong direction, allowing Fleetwing to
pass her nearly in sight of the finish. Demers' extraordinary painting
transports us hundreds of miles to sea to experiencethe majesty of these
three great vessels underway as if we were sailing alongside them. |
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Fine Art
Giclée Canvas |
image size:
44" X 25" |
$1510.00 (Cdn) |
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The Windswept Coast |
“Ocean Point, the
setting of The Windswept Coast, is the primary reason that I am a marine
artist,” says Don Demers. “As a boy, in the heyday of the Wyeths, this is
where I spent my summers and was introduced to nautical subjects and their
lore. I built ship models in my grandfather’s workshop by day. At night my
grandmother would sew their sails for them while my grandfather and I played
cribbage. All of this led to a lifelong love of the sea and everything
around it.”
The scene in The Windswept Coast, shows Boothbay Harbor peninsula as it
appears today, but I painted it with 19th century schooners (from Maine’s
famous Nickerson Fleet) heading off to the fishing banks near Canada.
What fascinates me is how little the coast changes, its timelessness
intrigues me, allowing me to envision what the coast must have looked like a
hundred years ago when these majestic vessels were a common sight.” |
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Fine Art Masterwork
Giclée on Canvas |
image size:
42" X 28" |
$1205.00 (Cdn)
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By the Old
Boat House |
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As the fresh breezes
from a perfect day on the water fade away, these day sailors drift toward
the protection and comfort of their secluded cove. |
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Limited edition canvas
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image size:
23" X 15" |
$750.00 (Cdn)
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Nantucket Morning |
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The upper
reaches of greater Nantucket Harbor are dotted with quiet and intimate
places. Beautiful stretches of pastoral land spill into the water. Polpis
Harbor is one of these places. “I came upon this inlet one lovely summer
morning,” said the artist. “The early morning island breeze was beginning to
lift, gently tugging at the small sailboats on their moorings. The serenity
of this place wrapped around you like a blanket and that has stayed with me
to this day.” |
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Limited edition canvas
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image size:
28" X 18" |
$810.00 (Cdn)
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by phone
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