the lighthouse, the artist and the widow

There are 68 lighthouses in the state of Maine. None are more famous  than the lighthouse affectionately called, The Nubble.  It is located on Nubble Island in Cape Neddick, York, Maine. Today was a typical day with touring buses and a parking lot filled with cars, off-loading visitors by the hundreds in Sohier Park for a glimpse and a photograph or two of the iconic American lighthouse. 

plein air oil painting on 12X16 panel

Tripping through the Universe,  the robotic spacecrafts, Voyager 1 and 2, houses 12 inch golden phonographs  containing a wealth of information describing Earth and the human race.  A photograph of the Nubble Lighthouse was selected alongside other iconic structures like the Great Wall of China just in case ET makes a rendezvous with the spacecraft to learn something of Earth.

But here along the ocean's water edge, the lighthouse has important symbolic meaning.  It is a symbol of safety during intense hardships. It can also represent a strong, singular person standing tall against unrelentless, brute forces of life. This may explain why lighthouses are so popular in tourism, photographs, paintings and written works.  In the face of adversity, it shines a light toward salvation.

studio oil painting on 9 x 16 panel

I found my viewing spot not alongside the hundreds of visitors but at a 'closed for the season' ice cream stand a couple blocks away up on a hill. Other than the sighing of deep regret and disappointment expressed by strangers who had approached the closed store in search of a cold cone delight, I was quite content to paint the lighthouse from this vantage point. 

While painting here though I began to wonder if ice cream stands could be lighthouses too; symbolically speaking.