Alan Claude's Art Prints & Valentine Special

I really love the work of graphic artist Alan Claude. His posters of Maine lighthouse are reminiscent of classic travel posters of the 1920s, but Alan's style is all his own.

From now to Valentine's Day, Alan's offering free shipping and free gift wrapping on any purchase.

Click here to look at Alan's prints and calendars.

Also, check out an interview with Alan on Maine's WCSH 6 show "207" --

Photo of the Day: Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, Maine

I posted a photo of this lighthouse in the fog a week or so ago. This photo was taken on a perfect day in November 2008 - chilly but clear, with gorgeous blue skies and puffy clouds.

For more on this lighthouse, click here.

Theater review: 'Whisper House' set at a lighthouse

The new musical play “Whisper House," set at a Maine lighthouse during World War II, has gotten a positive review in the Los Angeles Times.

Critic Charles McNulty calls the play "darkly enchanting" and writes, "What excites me about the musical is the way it reaches for poetry."

The lighthouse is suggested on stage by a spiral stairway and a real Fresnel lens. This play looks intriguing and I hope a production is mounted on the East Coast.

Baker's Island lens video

I just revamped my history of Baker's Island Lighthouse in Salem, Massachusetts. In the course of doing this, I found a video clip from nearly 20 years ago. It shows the fourth-order Fresnel lens removed from Baker's Island in the 1970s. At the time I shot the video, the lens was on display at the Shore Village Museum in Rockland, Maine. That museum later grew into the Maine Lighthouse Museum on Rockland's waterfront.

The man you hear talking about the lens is Mr. Lighthouse himself, Ken Black. Most New England buffs are very familiar with Ken -- he was a retired Coast Guard officer who rescued many artifacts and built an incredible collection that's now the basis of the Maine Lighthouse Museum. Sorry the quality of the video isn't great. The transfer was done many years ago. I need to dig up these old tapes to do new digital transfers one of these days.