The schooner American Eagle comes around Owl’s Head at the mouth of Penobscot Bay in Maine in the painting Breaking Storm by Carol L. Douglas. Dark clouds congregate over the Owl’s Head Lighthouse, yet just above the foremast of American Eagle, they begin to dissipate, giving way to a deep blue sky. American Eagle cuts through the waves, gracefully navigating out of a storm and into clearer weather, a major metaphor for life.
Raised in Buffalo, New York, along the shores of Lake Erie, Douglas learned to paint from her father. Art school was not considered a lucrative career, so Douglas became a mother—though she never fully quit painting. After having her fourth child, her husband encouraged her to return to art, so she attended the Art Students League in New York City. The couple then relocated to Rockport, Maine, where Douglas began her career as an artist and teacher.
From watercolors to oil paints, Douglas offers classes at her studio and one special session aboard American Eagle each September. On the moving boat, students’ skills are challenged with constantly shifting light and wind. Douglas begins by asking students to capture the color of the ocean, which ranges from deep blues and grays to every shade of green. The ability to combine these elements elevates a painting from a two-dimensional snapshot to a narrative work.
“And the story may be nothing more complicated than, this is what the water looks like with this lighting situation,” she says. “And then three minutes later, it’s different.”
Thus, painting aboard American Eagle combines the students’ awareness with the dynamic surroundings.
“When you’re out and it’s a storm, you realize how slender the barrier is between you and nature, and how quickly everything can go wrong,” Douglas says. “And yet somehow, we glide through life protected. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Glaciers, snow, waves, tree branches and rock fracturing are Douglas’s favorite subjects to paint because of what she calls their “randomness.” They demonstrate the uniqueness and unpredictability of nature, much like the experience of sailing.
Douglas encourages novices and longtime painters alike to sign up for her classes—if not for the art itself, then for the joy of creating and appreciating the world around us.
And to younger artists, she says, “Don’t let people sidetrack you into a more conventional career. Period.”
This article was originally published in the November 2024 issue.
