It has to be fun, or Kathleen Fox won’t do it.
This philosophy has defined the last few decades of Fox’s journey as an artist. She explained, “It seems the better time I have, the better the painting comes out.”
This proved true when one of her pieces done for fun – a watercolor of a fisherman’s wife in front of her woodstove – won her the Utrecht Art Supplies Award at New England Watercolor Society in 2014. The award is one of Fox’s proudest achievements.
Watercolor is Fox’s favorite medium because it isn’t “tedious” like oil painting. She also doesn’t feel guilty when she discards pieces she doesn’t like because she hasn’t spent too much time on them. Several paintings have ended up in her woodstove.
Fox’s artistic inspiration has blossomed in Maine. Originally from New York, she has been visiting the state since the 1970s, but didn’t move to Maine until 1995. Fox now lives between Tenant’s Harbor and Port Clyde in St. George.
“It seems there’s a certain amount of color and light in Maine which was not in New York. I grew up in upstate New York, so I didn’t live in the city. There was air and sunsets and all that stuff, but they didn’t excite me like they do in Maine,” said Fox. “It just seems like everything (in Maine) is more alive and more fresh.”
She has taken a particular interest in lobstermen and the fishing industry. Both are the subject of the yearly calendar she has released since 2007. Fox often goes to lobster boat races to capture the excitemnent. She said the lobstermen treat her like royalty and take her to do her paintings at the barge where they do photo finishes and hand out awards. During the Stonington boat race, Fox painted the annual “mooning” of the barge. She plans to put the painting in the 2022 calendar.
“I love lobstermen. They’re real cowboys. They’re their own boss. If they wake up one day and say ‘I don’t want to go,’ they don’t go. It’s a really interesting mindset. They’re kind. They’ll do anything to help someone who’s in trouble. They have a good time. They enjoy life,” said Fox.
It was also a lobster fisherman who got Fox to start using neon in her watercolors. She was doing a commission of a boat when the lobsterman pointed out she hadn’t gotten the buoy color right. When Fox explained it was because the buoy was neon, the man brought her his own paint for her to use. Neon has since become a staple in Fox’s work.
Fox considers documenting lobster boats an important personal mission. She worries about climate change and the future of the fishing industry. “(Lobstermen are) a throwback in a way to the old west and the old New England. I really admire them, and to me, it’s a fragile thing and to them, it’s not. It’s something that Maine has that I hope it always has, but I can’t guarantee it will.”
In addition to her watercolors, Fox has written and illustrated five children’s books, most starring her black Newfoundland Beowulf and his Maine misadventures. In 2013, Fox and 16 undergraduate students from her “Sexual Abuse and Trauma” class at University College at Rockland wrote a book to teach children how to recognize sexual abuse. All proceeds for the book “My Teddy Bear Says” go to the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MECASA).
Fox is working on a history book tentatively titled, “Pennsylvania Yankees.” It focuses on the history of Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley and the Pennamite-Yankee War between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Fox, whose maiden name is Earle, was inspired while searching for one of her ancestors. She believed he may have been kidnapped by indigenous people in Pennsylvania. Instead, she discovered her family was part of their own kidnapping plot during the war.
“I called the Wyoming Valley historical society and said ‘You got any Earles down there in the 1780s?’ and they said ‘Only the kidnappers’ and I’m like “What!” recalled Fox.
Fox believes historical narratives are often dry, so she tried to make the text engaging by adding her own illustrations and anecdotes. One of her favorite stories is of an Earle boy whose wife hid him from police by hiding him in a feather mattress before laying on top. The ruse was successful, with the officer not expecting the man to be concealed under the “hefty lass.” The book will be published later this year or early next.
In the meantime, Fox continues to paint and do what she said she does best: Bake pie.
“I’m having a good time. I’m really enjoying my life now. It’s really a good life to be a painter in Maine,” said Fox.
Fox’s work will be on display June 30 - July 26 during the Member’s Show at Boothbay Region Art Foundation. Her work will also be exhibited at Granite Gallery in Tenant’s HarborJuly 30 - Aug. 4.
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June 22, 2021 at 07:00PM
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Kathleen Fox: “It's really a good life to be a painter in Maine” - Boothbay Register
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