What feeling does a painting convey to you? How does it speak to you? Red is a very emotional color. Next time you are downtown stop into First Federal Savings and check out Allen Bunker's paintings.  

You will not be able to look at one of Bunker’s paintings without feeling.  Beautiful large oils that represent the emotions one feels when one comes to Maine and just looks and sees.

A carpenter by trade, Bunker was always interested in design and aesthetics.  Basically self taught, he started painting while vacationing in Boothbay Harbor and Cape Cod in the 1980s.

With help from many artists along the way, he found his own style. “Artists understand that the object itself is not the real concern, but the light falling on the object is what gives it life,” Bunker said. “Take the water in a harbor, for example. At different times of the day, it can be blue, green, white, silver or black. The water has not changed but the light has.”

Bunker said he tries to paint the feeling he gets from a scene. “People come to Maine not just for the good weather and spectacular landscape but to 'get away' or to 'get back to nature,'” Bunker said. “These are feelings or emotions. My goal as an artist is to bring the viewer back to that feeling or emotion. I call them 'landscape allusions.'”

Bunker is an active member of the Boothbay Region Art Foundation (BRAF), the Plein Air Painters of Maine and owns the Allen David Gallery, 11 Granary Way, Boothbay Harbor.  His work can be seen in any of the following locations: Coco Vivo, Charleston, S.C.; Masterpiece Framing and Art Gallery, Boston, Mass.; Delicious Designs, Hingham, Mass.; Art Space Gallery, Rockland; Alternative Art Space, 450 Harrison Ave, Boston, Mass.; and Boston Gallery 601, 432 Harrison Aver, Boston Mass.

The exhibition is sponsored by theBoothbay Region Art Foundation a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit and the First Federal Savings and Loan on Townsend Avenue, and may be viewed during the bank's business hours through June and July.

Those interested in purchasing work or commissioning future work may reach him at 207-633-0003.  His websites are www.allenbunker.com and www.allendavidgallery.com.  He may also be reached through the Boothbay Region Art Foundation at 207-633-2703.