painting Archives - Graves Light Station

This original William R. Davis oil painting is now in the Graves Light library.

Just in time for Christmas, famed marine and landscape artist William R Davis delivered his magnificent painting of Graves Light Station as it looked in the early days.

Bill loves to paint in a traditional 19th century style, and it shows, with lots of little details set in an illuminated sunrise.

“He is a self-taught artist whose oil paintings typically capture the serene light of sunrise or sunset on the water,” the Guild of Boston Artists says.

“He employs many of the techniques traditionally used by American luminist painters to realize his personal vision, showing a marked preference for 19th century subjects.”

We motored out this weekend and gave it a place of honor in the 5th floor library.

Thank you, Bill, for painting a Graves Light masterpiece!

Comfortably on the curved wall between the cabinet and a functioning section of a US Coast Guard navigational aid, William R. Davis’ painting of Graves Light is now part of the lighthouse.

Sunday paint crew: Sue, Allison, Mike, Shane, Andrea, Jack and Lynn.

Family, friends, friends of friends, and even a new friend discovered online took time from their Labor Day weekend to come out to Graves Ledge and paint inside the lighthouse.

We had sandblasted all bronze, iron and steel surfaces inside. We covered the bronze with clear protectant and painted the iron and steel with a special marine-grade green-gray primer. That work was done by a professional crew.

Over Labor Day weekend, a hardy group of volunteers from all walks of life visited Graves and, with paintbrushes and rollers, carried out the difficult task of applying a thick epoxy urethane paint as a secondary primer to bond with the first. This is the same kind of primer used on oceangoing vessels and oil rigs.

The two-day midcoat primer job was followed by a topcoat job on Monday, to apply black paint to cast iron stairways, rails and other surfaces.

Here are some of the pictures of our Labor Day weekend paint party. We are really, really grateful for all the enthusiastic and devoted help.

: Saturday paint crew: Mike and Carolyn (standing at top), Josh (seated at top), Kat and Dave (hanging off right side), Keith and John (standing).

: Mike and Lynn take a break from painting on September 1, the 109th anniversary of the first lighting of Graves Light. Lynn’s hand shows that she was painting black that day.