Little Boars Head After Storm by Debra Woodward

View Debra Woodward’s Body of Work exhibit titled ”Along the Ocean” at the SAA Gallery in Exeter, NH during the month of December.

‘I am in love with Ocean
lifting her thousands of white hats
in the chop of the storm,
or lying smooth and blue, the
loveliest bed in the world…”
From “Ocean” by Mary Oliver

I have loved the ocean since I was a child. Growing up in NH, my family took day trips to the Wallis Sands in summers, and for our weeklong vacations it was always Moody Beach in Maine, close to Ogunquit. The highlight of those trips for me was always walking around Perkins Cove. I found it magical. Luckily, I am old enough to remember it as an artist colony. I loved seeing the painters at work, their artwork leaning along trucks and cars. Even then, I was using my Brownie to take photos and trying to make them “artistic”.

Perkins Cove Boat by Debra Woodward

A lifelong photographer, I began moving from snapshots to photographs while studying with Newburyport photographer Robert Chiller for six years. After becoming a juried member of the NH Art Association, I met Amesbury painter Bob Richardson when we both served on their Board of directors. In 2017, Bob persuaded me to take a class with him in oils, and I was hooked. I took two more classes with Bob and have not stopped painting since. Bob also teaches plein air workshops on Monhegan Island, another magical place. I painted with him there in 2018 and 2019, and some of the work you see here is from those trips. These have been reduced in price for December to make room for more paintings I am doing this year! I hope to return to Monhegan in 2021.

Main Street Monhegan Island #2 by Debra Woodward

More recently, I have taken three courses with artist Tom Glover at Sanctuary Arts in Eliot, Maine. In the most recent one we studied the work and history of the artists of Perkins Cove, so I have come full circle! “Mennonite Girls at Cape Elizabeth” is from a photo I took in Maine and inspired by a painting by Charles Woodbury, the founder of Ogunquit’s first art colony. The weather allowed us to do plein air painting there, and some of the work is shown here. I usually paint from my photographs, and one painting here is closer to home, done from a photo I took at Little Boar’s Head after a winter storm. I expect we will see more of these views soon.

Mennonite Girls at Cape Elizabeth by Debra Woodward

Debra has been a member of the SAA since 2012. She lives in Seacoast NH and can be reached at woodwardda@aol.com. More of her works can be viewed on her SAA gallery page.