This “Wise Old Crow” is one of my favorite pieces of encaustic art that I have done.   The title is “Looking Forward”.   For me this crow is looking towards the future, an unknown, wondering about the possibilities!!!!  Many of us are in that position today.  The past is woven together from intricate and complicated stories, some of them delightful and some extremely challenging.  We survived and probably thrived from those experiences.  In all likelihood we will grow and thrive in the future as well.  I wish you all a wonderful, exciting, interesting and complicated “New Year”!

Recently I worked on two pieces about Stinson’s Canning Company that was located in Prospect Harbor, Me until 2010.  One  piece will eventually go to it’s new home and this one  piece will stay with me for a while.  I really enjoyed looking into the history of this business and also finding interesting articles, quotes, poems and songs that are related to Stinson’s.

So many people from the area had a connection in one way or another.  My Aunt used to ride the bus back and forth to work at Stinson’s.  That was a very long time ago and what I remember the most were the bandages that she wore on her hands.  In retrospect her hands may not have been covered in bandages, but as a young girl that is what I told myself.  Perhaps they wrapped their hands and fingers  before there were gloves to use, another speculation on my part.  Does anyone know more about this?  I do know that she was a very sweet woman who worked very hard all day at the factory.  I remember the smell of her arrival, ( because I loved the smell of bait)  I remember it fondly.  She never mentioned to me what she thought about her job but I do think that the community was very lucky to have this business and the business was very lucky to have the dedicated workers.

This cluster of buoy’s caught my eye while on a walk in Winter Harbor last summer.  At first glance I loved the way the light hit the buoy’s in the trees, the shadows, the colors and the aging process that has taken place.

Then the stories behind the buoy’s began to take shape in my mind’s eye.  I would imagine that these tools of the lobster industry have seen an amazing amount of change over the years.  Changes like the weather, the rules and regulations that have come and gone and sometimes come back again,  changes in the actual people who continue to lobster year after year.  The way various folks care for their equipment and the industry standards for such equipment.

I have added a red and yellow buoy in honor of my Grandfather, Dennis Coombs and his years lobstering.  I know this color belongs to someone else now.  I hope he enjoys the business as much as Dennis.  Only one buoy had distinguishing marks and it appears to belong to Barto.  There are probably markings and numbers on the other buoy’s that I could not see.  I would imagine that some local folks can recognize others by the color combinations.

Finally, how did these buoy’s get hung in the trees-retired from their job on the water?  Does anyone miss them?