Belfast Harbor

Belfast’s most iconic view is the three red tugboats docked at the foot of Main Street. They’re the property of the Penobscot Bay Tractor Tug Company, and they’re not meant to be merely pretty; they’re working tugs that help move cargo around the bay.

Belfast harbor is muscular compared to many other modern coastal towns here in midcoast Maine. Front Street Shipyard is a very large shipbuilder that always has something interesting in its yard; Belfast’s Harbor Walk snakes along the waterfront directly in front of it. It was from this location that I painted the tugs.

My goal was to reduce the tugs and the boat sheds to shapes, rather than paint them in detail.