There are a number of small watercolors in the show that appear to have been executed plein air in one sitting. They lack the wide color range and detail of the more formally developed oils but have a manic energy that give them an almost startling presence. In "Isle au Haut, Expanded #3" the washy, mottled blue of the sky is fractured by a streak of sunset orange while the dark ground below surrounds some water and shows a bit of orange reflection. In its neighbor, "Isle au Haut toward Camden Hills," similar colors are arranged in a darkened sky set off against a narrow strip of sunset and the action of the waves beneath. The paintings are little islands of intensity that appear quickly and are gone.
The cumulative effect of the forty-odd pictures that make up this show is that they were done by a mature artist who is at the top of his game. These are works of a distinct pictorial identity.
Ken Greenleaf can be reached at ken.greenleaf@gmail.com.
Topics:
Museum And Gallery
, Painting, Visual Arts, Jackson Pollock, More 
, Painting, Visual Arts, Jackson Pollock, Winslow Homer, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Ken Greenleaf, Dennis Pinette, Dennis Pinette, Less 
