Featured Artist: Alan Phillips!

“My source of inspiration is nature. Irresistible. I live to be outside in or near the water. My connection to the sea comes from my  family roots.  Three of my grandparents were born and raised on Prince Edward Island in Canada. My own immediate experiences came from summers on Lake Winnipesauke in New Hampshire and Thompson Lake in Maine, the shore in West Yarmouth and Dennis where we had a place down on Cape Cod Massachusetts. Lobster rolls and steamers were the foods that fueled my adventures up in Ogunquit, Kennebunkport and Portland Maine.

These were the origins of my love for harbors and boats. Wooden Cat boats, Garwood and Chris Craft mahogany runabouts, Schooners, Yawls, Sloops, Tugboats and Lobster boats somehow called me to the water. I think they represent  freedom. They are a metaphor as is the ocean, somehow tangible and imaginary of journeys taken and those yet to come. I am the harbor model of Huck Finn.

My adventures have steered me to Kauai, Maui, Castine, St. Maarten, Camden, Lake Champlain, Vancouver, Quebec, Toronto, Thousand Islands, St. Augustine, Atlantic Beach, Mayport Fernandina, Long Island Sound, Newport Rhode Island and Newport Beach California, Laguna, Santa Monica and La Jolla always searching for the next surprise. The lakes, the ponds and rivers from the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania, ponds in London, Central Park New York, the Boston  Public Gardens, the Tullieries Gardens in Paris and the children’s pond boats, the Charles River in Boston is where I learned to sail, the Mystic River in Connecticut,  the St. Johns in Florida, the Hudson and St. Lawrence Rivers are all fodder for my  vision on canvas.

My art heroes are Manet, Degas, Velazquez, Monet, Sargent, Hopper, Wyeth, Sarolla, Chase, Hasaam, Dekooning, Motherwell, Diebenkorn, Thiebaud, Fischl,  Hiendel, Fuchs, Schwartz, Vermeer, Saville and Homer just to name a few who have helped shape my voice. Thank you.

It is my wish to keep the visceral impact of my initial reaction to a scene. The experience of turning a corner and being surprised by the lush brilliance of nature splashed brightly by a golden sun creating depth, shadows , curves and lines. In response I capture more than the jewel I see. I embrace that feeling where the air is breathable and the space has a lyrical poetry to it.

These are paintings of a place where harmony rules. I choose selected moments of wellness, ease and sanctuary. I know that nature can also be a cruel mistress for the unprepared and I respect her power and this energy can be felt in my work as well as it is captured both with velocity and restrained exuberance. It is my intention to let it pulse beneath the lyricism. The journey has been good to me. I have been given privileges through my work far beyond my expectations that brought happiness, wellness, joy ease and comfort into my life. It is in sharing those feelings through my art where I hope it brings that moment into your life too.”