Hog Island Audubon Artist-In-Residence
Back in 2019, I found out that I had been selected for the Hog Island Audubon Camp Artist-in-Residence program (and my first ever artist residency) and was beyond ecstatic! It took me nearly two years to actually make it to Hog Island, Maine after the pandemic put so many lives on hold, but boy were those two years well worth the wait…
Enjoying the massive rainbow that appeared on the last day of the Arts & Birding Camp.
For two weeks, I found myself fully immersed in the beauty of Hog Island, living in the main house of the Bingham Cottages a mile away from the main Audubon camp area. I was free to fill my days with whatever I wanted to do and had all the time in the world to simply create art. I was extremely lucky to be on the island during the Arts & Birding camp and Educator’s Week and interact with people who love painting and drawing birds and then sharing their love of nature with others as much as I do. As I reflect on the entire experience, I realize that I could write about it all for days on end, but I truly can’t put all of it into words. Between seeing puffins on Eastern Egg Rock, watching warblers feed their young in the tree outside my cabin, sharing fresh Maine lobster with fellow campers, spending hours in the Queen Mary Lab with drawers of specimens and old taxidermy, and sitting on the rocky shore of my private alcove taking in every breathtaking sunset, I now feel like a part of myself will always be in Maine.
“When I walked through the woods and listened to the Thrushes, the cry of the Osprey circling overhead, or the boom of the Great Horned Owl at night. I could never feel that I owned such a place. It seemed, rather, the property of all who cherished it and wished to preserve it for others who would cherish it likewise in years to come.”
Bingham Cottage where I lived for 2 weeks.
My workspace on the porch of the cottage.
One of the gorgeous views along my walk to the cottage from the main camp.
Warblers of Hog Island. Watercolor.
I took the majority of my time during this residency to fill my nature journal with pages of observations about the birds on the island or creating sketches of specimens from the island’s small collection. My final piece that was donated as part of the residency features five warbler species that I observed on the island in the form of specimens from the Queen Mary Lab and will join the works of my fellow residency artists at the Project Puffin Visitor Center in Rockland, Maine.
Sketchbook Pages
