A Trip to the Acadia National Park

 A few weeks ago, around the 4th of July weekend, my husband and I took a trip to the Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor,  Maine. This was our second visit, the first one occurring two decades ago. A lot has changed in Maine since our last trip. There is far greater diversity (especially racial) in the demographics of the crowds visiting these tourist spots and correspondingly greater diversity in food and restaurant choices.

What however has remained unchanged is the natural grandeur of the seas and the mountains of the Acadia National Park. The rough waters with forbidding rocky outcrops of the  Gulf of Maine that borders one side of the Park is still an awesome sight to hold.  On the other side was the Cadillac Mountain with its magnificent views from the top and the beautiful granite rocks lined with green algae and puddles of water. (My chemist husband could not resist pointing out that granite is a radioactive material and that we are waking on a radioactive surface!) Be that as it may, it was still very lovely.

The original intent of the trip was to do whale and puffin watching on a tour boat. Unfortunately, the trip was cancelled due to heavy fog and rough sea. It looked like this in the morning.

It improved quiet a bit in the afternoon and we took a shorter boat ride around the bay. We saw several harbor and grey seals lolling on the rocks at low tide. We spent the whole day at Bar Harbor along with hundreds of other tourists. Overall, a pleasant trip, in spite of some minor disappointments, unexpected weather turns and traffic jams.

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Let it Shine

I interpreted this week's theme 'Let it Shine' at Try it on Tuesday in  different ways. Since it is summer in northern hemisphere, it could mean the shining of the sun; it could also mean the bright light of summer and its predominant color, yellow.

The top picture is a watercolor of melted butter in a mason jar. I did it on a coffee filter paper which I first made water resistant with gesso. Here I have tried to capture the transparent quality of both the glass and the liquid and the shine of reflected light on both.

This painting of sunflowers on a river rock is a more metaphoric interpretation of the theme. These large yellow flowers turning their face throughout the day in the direction of the sun light up the garden with their shine.


Finally, the one below is a mixed media art where yellow stands for shine.

Thanks for visiting. Linked to Try it on Tuesday.