Artist from Bay State is liking the road less traveled

Hingham, Mass., native turned islander Alison Hill trucks homeward after a morning of painting a Monhegan landscape. Below, one of her favorites. (Harrison Thorp photos)

MONHEGAN ISLAND, Maine - Alison Hill is like one of hundreds of artists who make a pilgrimage to Mohegan to capture the island’s allure.

But Hill made the pilgrimage only once, 12 years ago. She’s lived here ever since.

Last winter she was one of just 30 or so intrepid souls who braved the elements on this tiny island, barely four square miles, that sits about 12 miles off the coast south of Port Clyde.

In the winter months, Monhegan Boat Lines operates a single ferry service just three days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Other than that, the islanders are on their own, with little contact with the mainland.

Oh, there’s TV and the Internet, of course, but beyond that, little else, Hill says.

“It’s quiet and cold and windy. You have to wear crampons to walk anywhere,” she says as she walks her painter’s cart back to her home on the island’s south side this sunny, warm June day.

Upon entering her home, a formal studio displays some of Hill’s stunningly beautiful works, which can range from several hundred dollars to several thousand.

Her oil landscapes are lovely, but she is an accomplished portrait artist as well.

She likes painting all types of scenes on the island, but mostly enjoys “buildings in combination with the ocean and rocks. Different things; you gotta mix it up,” she adds.

Hill grew up in Hingham, Mass., and said she came to Monhegan because of a man she knew whom she married and later divorced.

He’s left the island, but she remains. She has no plans on leaving.

“I love it out here,” she says.

You can see more of Hill’s paintings at http://alisonhill.net