Paintings of Nantucket Scenes

Ack’s Hurricanes Earl & Irene – en plein air watercolor landscape painting

Moor’s End Farm, on Polpis Road is a family owned enterprise with many greenhouses, sheds, stands, and outbuildings, all providing intriguing subjects. The piece, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s work, was close to completion when high winds of the oncoming before Hurricane Earl on 8/25/10 nearly blew over my easel.

Awaiting a Sail – en plein air watercolor seascape painting

Tendered at South Wharf, a docked sailboat presented its striking red hull, slender masts and ropes, teak railways and white deck and rails; extending its form and color in the reflection.

Civil War Monument – en plein air watercolor landscape painting by Frank Costantino

Situated in the middle of Upper Main St., Nantucket, this memorial is a most noticeable reminder of the lives sacrificed by Island’s soldiers in this nations’ most dreadful conflict.

Island Icon – en plein air watercolor landscape building painting

Set in the center of Main St. Nantucket, the Town’s weathered patina Memorial planter, always seasonally decorated, has become one of the welcoming sights to the historic island, as well as an enduring symbol of its traditions.

Nantucket Lantern – en plein air watercolor painting

An extended shadow of an ovoid lantern, distorted by the sun’s angle into a transluscent reshaped ellipse, was portrayed essentially as a duo-color palette, with analogous accents.

Orange Street Church – en plein air watercolor landscape building painting

Painted over the course of two mornings, this watercolor of Nantucket’s Unitarian Universalist Church captures the iconic profile of its golden domed steeple and clock.

Sconset ’57 Willys – en plein air watercolor landscape painting

The low scale character of Nantucket’s Siasconset village & houses, together with a well-known ’57 vintage red Jeep – seen everywhere during the season – made for a representative vignette of another of the island’s special places.

Symbol of Another Time – en plein air watercolor landscape building painting

This plein-air watercolor of Nantucket’s historic windmill was painted mid-morning, capturing a dynamic foreground of the vermillion vane pole and enormous wagon wheel that control the wooden gear train for positioning the vanes toward the wind.

Windblown on Surfside – en plein air watercolor seascape beach scene painting by Frank Costantino.

A fun view of children and parent bathers enjoying the sun in different ways at Surfside’s vigorous shoreline. The upturned umbrella happened in an instant, and with the suggestive splashing of the surf, added a dimension of motion to an impression painted quickly without linework.

Rainbow Fleet Nantucket – en plein air watercolor seascape maritime painting

Nantucket, MA On a mid-August Sunday, a flotilla of small single-sail Beetle Cat boats are annually paraded into Nantucket Harbor along the shore of Children’s Beach and the iconic Brant Point lighthouse. Assembled from around the island, an impressive...

Little Harbor Skiff – watercolor maritime painting of boat

NANTUCKET Boat scenes are so numerous on Nantucket, that even artists find it difficult to isolate a subject with a fresh eye. The vibrant juxtaposition of this single sailboat with orange sail against the weathered gray building and rusted pilings, with...

Sail Colors Amidst the Blue – en plein air watercolor boat painting

NANTUCKET, MA Nantucket's Rainbow Fleet parade of sail is held every early August along the approach to this Island's busy Harbor. Viewed from the sandy beachhead at Brant Point Light, the small boats are dwarfed in scale by the auto ferry gliding by, with...

Moor’s End Morning Duo – en plein air watercolor landscape painting

POLPIS, NANTUCKET, MA A family-run mainstay in Polpis, this working farm is a perennial stop for residents and visitors to Nantucket Island. Over the years, the owners have been generous enough to allow access for my paintings of their iconic greenhouses,...