"The clean and low light is distinct from summer
light,t's great for painting." Standing on the banks of
an offshoot of the Damariscotta River, the artist
painted this tranquil New England scene.
-
Don Demers
Donald Demers was born in 1956, in the
small rural community of Lunenburg, Massachusetts. His interest in painting
maritime subjects began while spending his summers on the coast of Maine near
Boothbay Harbour. Crewing aboard schooners, square-riggers and other traditional
craft have provided both the foundation for his technical expertise and the
vision to transfer his first- hand experience to the canvas.
His love of sailing has not diminished over the years.
Don acknowledges
his high school art teacher as the most formative influence in his early
training. He continued his education at the School of the Worcester (MA) Art
Museum and Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.
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Returning the Pilot,
1900
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
Limited Edition Giclée canvas
handsigned by the artist
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.
Limited Edition Giclée on paper
handsigned by the artist
End of
Day One: The Great Transatlantic Race, 1866
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.
Limited Edition Giclée canvas
handsigned by the artist
“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.”
Limited Edition Masterwork Giclée canvas
handsigned by the artist
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.”
Limited Edition Giclée canvas
handsigned by the artist
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