On the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, I spent the day painting and studying light.   The sun rises before 5 o’clock on the solstice and sets well after 8 at night on the peak summer day in Maine.  I have observed the solstice the past 2 years on the Blue Hill Peninsula.  These paintings are the result of solstice plein air painting.

What makes dawn light differ from dusk?  What visual decisions do I make as I capture this light?  How does interior light differ from outdoor light?   I explore with paint these questions: how the longest day of the year differs from the shortest day, how summer light shifts and changes. 

 Making these paintings took me to some magical places.  Hours of the Day depicts locations in Newbury Neck, Eggemoggin Reach, Stonington, Brooksville, Blue Hill, Bayside and as far north as the Bay of Fundy.

20 new paintings are featured in this exhibition. You may visit the gallery either in person (if you’re in Maine) or virtually online at Courthouse Gallery website. On Wednesday September 23 at 5pm, the gallery will host a Zoom talk with Alison. You’re Zoom-invited!

A exhibition catalogue of Rector’s Hours of the Day featuring an essay by fiction writer Laurel Davis Huber is available through Courthouse Gallery. You may download the digital catalogue through the gallery website or order a copy of the print catalogue.

For more information contact the gallery at 207-667-6611.