ROGER DALE BROWN
The Secret Sea
When it comes to seascape or marine paintings, there are no prerequisites for the artists, as Roger Dale Brown makes abundantly clear. “As much as I love the ocean, ships, working boats, the marsh and quaint towns of the coast, I do not sail [and] I have no boat. I love to fish but rarely get a chance and I really do not like seafood,” he says. “With that said, there is rarely a place I would rather be than along the coast.”
Brown’s new ocean and boat paintings will be part of a new show, Around Town, opening August 22 at Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Works in the show include spectacular views from beaches and rocky shores, as well as harbor scenes full of docked boats with bare masts stretching into blue skies.
“I intentionally painted these scenes
with more mood, focusing on more intimate scenes for the most part. ‘Intimate’ meaning scenes of a specific object or type of light—the light that happens in the early morning or late afternoon,” he says. “I have a personal connection with scenes like this. For me it is a more spiritual way of approaching a painting. That’s not to say all types of light and subject are not spiritual. The further along I get in my art journey, the more these types of subjects and lighting conditions intrigue me.”
The show will include Mooring at Noon and Quiet Time, both of which show sailing boats ready and waiting for captains to hoist the sails and cast off on a new journey out to sea. Other images feature more blue-collar scenes. “There is an element of intrigue with the workingclass fisherman and folks that make a living with the sea. That’s what I’m really interested in,” Brown says. “I want to capture the essence of life on the sea. When I go to an area I really try to take in the culture and mood. I want to visit the places the locals visit, experience their everyday life, understand life on boats, smell the sea, touch the side of a hull or old boat house. Anything I can do to gain understanding of that area. If I’m attuned to my surroundings, then I am better able to be attuned with my painting and the mood I want to present.”
It’s almost cliché at this point, but it’s still true for many people, Brown included: The ocean calls to people. It has an unmistakable attraction, and not just to people on its shores, but to those far inland in the densest forests and on the tallest peaks. The ocean has its own gravity that pulls people to it.
“I think scenes and places along the coast, especially the old working boats and quaint towns that have such historic architecture, old docks, the smell of fish and the salt in the air gives us a scene of nostalgia and longing to be around it. It takes us to a time that was simpler in a way. There wasn’t the stress of our fastpaced society that we face in this modern world. It was a hard time as far as hard work, but people back then knew what was wrong and right. They knew that if they worked hard they could survive and did not expect anything more. I think people innately want that. I think marine paint
ings touch on this nostalgia and strike a chord with the viewer or collector,” the artist says. “I also think people are drawn to water. Water is mystical, spiritual and people feel closer to God. There is also a bit of unknown danger to it. The sea has produced so many stories and history. It draws us to it in every aspect and in every form it presents to us.”
Brown likes to think of an old passage by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “My soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me.”