Kate Emlen

This is the local view of the islands from our summer retreat on Penobscot Bay in Maine. I have painted these islands hundreds of times for more than thirty years. “Barney’s Mistake” is a tidal outcropping. The story goes that Barney — no one is quite sure who he was — was rowing his sack of potatoes around the point to sell at market. He forgot something at home, left his potatoes on the little island and, well, you’ve already guessed. When he returned, the tide had come in and his potatoes were lost.

Kate Emlen
February 2009