Painting Old Mill

The house on the Mill Pond, by Clark Hanford

Cottages.  Wooden bridges.  Ducks, egrets, herons, gulls, swans, cormorants.  And the Mill Pond itself.

It’s an artist’s dream, and from dawn mist to dusky sunset, folks are out there painting.

Now everyone can see their work.

Clark Hanford — painter, sculptor and Old Mill resident — has gathered several other artists together.  This Saturday (Aug. 28, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), they’ll present an outdoor exhibit of their work.

The show — highlighting the infinite moods of Old Mill and Compo Cove — takes place at Hanford’s home:  31 Old Mill.

You can’t ask for a better curator.  A 1962 Staples graduate, Hanford has been a working artist for over 4 decades.

“Although I sometimes saw people painting on the beach, I’d be busy in my studio doing portraits or sculpting,” he says.

“I just enjoy being here.  I don’t have a need to paint it.”

But this winter — when it was cold and nasty, and he vowed to do something special when if summer finally arrived — Hanford decided to paint outside.  Then he hit on the idea of a little show.

Scouting for artists with different styles and points of view, he found talented folks like Cornelia Gaines Olsen, Judy Katz and Bobbi Eike Mullen.

Once upon a time, Westport was an “artists’ colony.”  On Saturday, the special colony of Old Mill honors the artists who honor it.

Old Mill Beach, by Clark Hanford