“Ice Out Back Cove,” by Jean Kigel.

 

We have set our clocks forward. The equinox has come and gone.  We are stripping off layers. And the roads have been posted. But we must endure the thaw.

During April, Jean Kigel Gallery, at 1396 Back Cove in Waldoboro, presents “The Thaw,” a series of paintings depicting that transitional season often dubbed Mud Season.

Living in Midcoast Maine has familiarized Kigel with its saltwater coves and stone-walled fields. Her watercolors in this show reveal the breakup of ice in saltwater coves and its slipping off from harbor pilings. She has painted hay rolls emerging from snow-patched fields, and woods with spring run-off. She includes ice fishing shacks being removed and traps and buoys coming out of cold storage. Some of her favorite paintings celebrate sugar shacks and bare apple orchards.

Also featured in “The Thaw” are Kigel’s Asian brush paintings. These include silhouetted trees and the last runs on ski slopes.

“Hopefully this ‘Thaw’ is more than the tilt of the Earth,” Kigel says. “Hopefully it also bodes the tilting away of COVID-19’s long, cruel grip.”

Kigel is a member of the Union of Maine Visual Artists and the Sumi-e Society of America. This show can be seen in person at Jean Kigel Gallery, 1396 Back Cove Road, and online at www.jeankigel.com. The gallery is open daily by chance or by appointment. For more information, call 832-5152.