Emerging Artists | Colin Page

Finding visual poetry

Colin Page, Cozy Harbor Structures, oil, 20 x 24.

This story was featured in the March 2015 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art March 2015 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story!

For more than a decade, Colin Page has called Maine home. The state’s picturesque landscapes inspire much of  his work today. “We have beautiful woods, mountains, farms, working harbors, a rocky coast, and ocean views,” Page says. “There is a beautiful, crisp light here on a clear day, and I love trying to capture the way light shimmers on the surface of the water.”

The painter moved to Maine after graduating from The Cooper Union and then spending an additional 18 months in New York City trying to paint and make a living as an artist. At the time, Page worked three part-time jobs and painted in a small apartment he shared with three other people. He longed for a quieter, more affordable place to live and paint. When a friend offered a cabin in Maine that overlooked the ocean, he packed his bags for New England.

Although Page relishes depicting scenes close to his Camden home, such as the birch trees in his front yard and the nearby harbors, on occasion he  also travels west to capture totally different terrain. For example, last October his work was featured in the Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational in Laguna Beach, CA, where he won the Quick Draw contest. In May, Page is participating in the Dixon Camp Out Invitational in Mount Carmel, UT. In his loose, impressionistic style, Page  has portrayed scenes ranging from Utah’s Arches National Park to Arizona’s Grand Canyon. “I’m blown away by the drama and vastness of the western  landscape,” Page says.

Incidentally, Page interprets the landscape genre broadly. For him it can include everything from a serene scene featuring the fall colors in a nature preserve to a bustling downtown city street. Like many landscape painters,  he says it’s all about the light, whether he is painting town or country scenes.  “I hope people can feel a sense of light  in my paintings,” Page says. “I want to have a painterly brush stroke, which shows how much I love using oils. Through painting I want to share the poetry I find every day in the world around me.” —Bonnie Gangelhoff

representation
Anglin Smith Fine Art, Charleston, SC; Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME; Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME; Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, ME.

Featured in the March 2015 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art March 2015 print issue or digital download Or subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!