Artist Willam Crosby is inspired by water, land and sky

In the ’70s and ’80s, William Crosby took a number of his students on photography field trips to Maine. Then, in 1985, his wife, Pat, designed and built a home in Tenants Harbor for the parents of her construction partner. As a result, they spent much of that summer in Maine. Through these experiences, they came to know Maine, and in 1989 found land for themselves along the tidal Saint George River. The tidal flats — good for kayaking — and the natural landscape of Maine are year-round sources of inspiration for my abstract landscape paintings.

Crosby worked in oils until 1970, then acrylics. He keeps a studio in Maine and another on his property in the Lake Champlain/Adirondack region of New York.

“My creative space has always been makeshift,” he writes. “I can paint anywhere.”

His Maine studio is inside a carriage house, and his New York space is an unused bedroom. 

“I’ve painted in cellars, kitchens and, for a period of time, in an old granary building,” he says.

See some of his most recent paintings at Portland Art Gallery, 154 Middle St., Portland. Call 207-956-7105 for details.