Keith Reynolds’ “Christmas Island”: A Foggy Maine Seascape of Reflection and Mood

In this quietly powerful composition titled Christmas Island, artist Keith Reynolds captures a lone lobster boat as it approaches a small, isolated island shrouded in fog off the coast of Maine. The scene is calm and contemplative: flat, glassy water creates precise reflections of the vessel and the solitary house on the island, while the soft gradation of sky to sea produces an almost meditative stillness. Reynolds painted this view after visiting Christmas Cove just north of Boothbay, drawing on that firsthand impression to create a concentrated, pared-down moment on the water.

Reynolds has long been admired for two signature qualities in his work: the subtle transitions of tone from horizon to sky and the mirror-like reflections that anchor many of his seascapes. “One of the things people like about my work is the soft gradation from sky to sea, and the other thing they like are the mirror-like reflections,” he says. In Christmas Island, these elements are foregrounded. The composition removes distracting detail and focuses attention on the interplay of light, form and reflection, turning a simple coastal vignette into a study of atmosphere and silence.

Active as a painter since 1961, Reynolds has painted hundreds of Maine fishing boats over the years and speaks of them with a familiarity born of long observation. He notes that the working craft of New England—its angles, the sweep of the hull and the functional geometry of deck structures—lend themselves naturally to artistic interpretation. In this painting, the boat’s clean lines and the island’s compact silhouette are allowed to assert themselves against the soft, almost monochromatic background, giving the viewer a focused visual story without extraneous elements.

That deliberate simplicity is central to Reynolds’ approach. He often “drops out” much of the background in his images, isolating the subject so that it occupies the viewer’s full attention. Reynolds compares the experience to standing on a beach and seeing a bright red spinnaker against blue sky: once the eye locks on that note of color or form, everything else recedes. He brings that economy of perception to his canvases, reducing scenes to their emotional core and allowing mood and atmosphere to do most of the expressive work.

Reynolds’ relationship to the sea is both personal and lifelong. Born in Seattle, Washington, he spent his youth on Puget Sound aboard fishing boats, tugs and ferries, experiences that clearly informed his later work. He studied fine art at the University of Oregon, served in the military in the Sea of Japan, and later earned a Bachelor of Professional Arts degree from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. Now based in Bristol, Rhode Island, he paints scenes drawn from New England, the Chesapeake and Florida—yet he prefers to describe himself not strictly as a maritime artist but as “a painter of moods.”

“What better place for moods than the sea?” Reynolds asks. The ocean’s constant shifts in light, weather and color provide an ideal subject for someone whose work seeks to capture fleeting impressions. Whether he paints a fog-blanketed island, a sunlit harbor or a lone boat cutting a calm surface, Reynolds emphasizes atmosphere over clutter, inviting the viewer to inhabit the quiet interval he has rendered.

Christmas Island exemplifies that sensibility. By minimizing narrative details and foregrounding tonal subtleties—the haze of fog, the crisp reflection, the spare architecture—the painting becomes less about specific geography and more about a suspended moment: a hush between tides, a solitary approach to shore, a brief convergence of craft and landscape. The result is a piece that resonates with both maritime familiarity and a universal sense of stillness.

This article was originally published in the July 2022 issue.