Boston Lighthouse Art – Historic Little Brewster Island

This Boston Lighthouse art depicts a rainy night on historic Little Brewster Island. As lighthouses are a favorite subject, it was almost a given i had to work on Boston Light at least once. I’ve seen this historic lighthouse only once from a distance years ago on a trip to some of the other Boston Harbor islands. And at that time, I didn’t know the history of Little Brewster Island. The island has the claim to fame of being the site of the oldest lighthouse in the United States. But no, not the lighthouse that stands today. The lighthouse was damaged during the years of the American Revolution and was ultimately blown up by the British as they left. The current light was built in 1783 which still makes it the second oldest lighthouse in the country and although automated it’s the only one that still has a US Coast Guard lighthouse keeper. One article I read suggests that chapter too may be coming to a close as the Coast Guard is preparing to pass the historic lighthouse to the National Park Service.

And although history helps, it wasn’t just history that attracted me to work on a piece of Boston lighthouse art. It’s the landscape of the Island itself. With the cottage and lighthouse on that rocky outer island, it just feels cinematic to me, like something a Hollywood set designer would have conjured up as the backdrop to a scene. And that may have influenced me a little in this piece showing the lighthouse on a rainy night. This artwork is almost entirely made up of hues of blue with only the warm light from the keeper’s cottage and the lighthouse itself providing a complementary golden hue.

Rainy scenes like this have become associated with my work over the past few years. It’s definitely a theme that I enjoy and with which viewers seem to connect. I think it particularly works for lighthouses because you can have a scene like this Boston Lighthouse art which ends up feeling cozy. When you look at this do you feel the warmth of the cottage? The safety of the lighthouse? It feels like a haven from the cold and rainy night outside to me when I look at this. And that was certainly the intention.

I hope you’ll share your thoughts about my Boston lighthouse art? Were you familiar with the history of Little Brewster Island already or did that background help your appreciation for this piece? Maybe you simply like lighthouses in general? Me too! But if so, I hope you’ll take a moment to explore the other lighthouse art I’ve done.

I’m always on the lookout for other great subjects, so if you know of a particular lighthouse you’d like to see me work on in the future, please feel free to mention it in the comments or send a message with your thoughts.