When a painter meets a poet
Sarah Baskin’s painting of the Salt Pond in Blue Hill. Courtesy of the artist.
By Steele Hays
Artists are not only inspired by things they see. Sometimes, they find inspiration in something they hear or read, such as a poem. That was what spurred Sarah Baskin of Sargentville to paint her watercolor, “Earth Song,” depicting a wintery scene with spruce trees and animal tracks in the snow.
Baskin participated recently in a program at the Deer Isle Artists Association called “The Shared Humanity,” which encouraged artists and creative people with different areas of focus to work together. Baskin worked with Ann Van Buren of Deer Isle, who shared her poem, “Earth Song,” reprinted here with her permission:
Earth Song
Listen to what’s inside my ear
water entering an icy cove
muffled by trees and snow
Sound travels a circuitous path
through a forest the way
an empty whelk pours darkness
into a clenched hand
All that’s changed remains the same
the way footprints spring from starry moss
and fallen trees drape themselves on ledges
soften into bulky shapes
The spiral ebb and flow taps
fragile membranes in my body ---
quiet wings paint the sky
Perhaps it was the line “water entering an icy cove, muffled by trees and snow.”
“The words of Ann’s poem spoke to me,” Baskin said, “and reminded me of a scene and a photograph I had taken when hiking in the Salt Pond blueberry barrens last winter.”
Baskin often paints “en pleine air,” as the French Impressionists did, but in this case, she worked in her studio, painting from the photograph.
The painting is currently on display at the Buck’s Harbor Market in Brooksville and is for sale at a price of $500.
Baskin has visited the Salt Pond blueberry barrens numerous times in the past year to paint. The property was recently saved from development with philanthropic efforts.
“We artists flocked to the barrens last summer thinking that we were going to lose it to development so we had to paint it,” she said.
Baskin spends about six months each year in Sargentville and the rest in Connecticut. You can see more of her work at www.sarahbaskinart.com
The Rising Tide celebrates the enormous creativity of our area. If you have a poem, painting, sculpture or photograph you’d like to share with a wider audience, send it to us at info@risingtide.media. We’d love to showcase your talents.
