KENNEBUNKPORT – My wife and I are perhaps more attuned to the light than other people. Me, because I’m an early riser and fortunate enough to live within walking distance of the ocean, which affords me spectacular views of the sun rising on the watery horizon, the best being those “sailor take warning” mornings of flaming reds and oranges flaring above water the color of a smoky blue Maine tourmaline. My wife, because she’s an artist — a painter — and tends to see the world in terms of light, color and composition.

Many regions of the world are famous for their peculiar brand of light. France, of course, with its intensely brilliant lavender and poppy fields in Provence, and the searing, clear light of Arles that obsessed Van Gogh with dazzling yellow sunflowers and sienna-burnished wheat fields. The pellucid light of New Mexico, especially around Santa Fe, comes down like an enveloping canopy over the stark desert and mountain landscapes.

Maine’s light is perhaps best known as it’s represented by some of our most famous artists — like Winslow Homer and Andrew and Jamie Wyeth — who capture that ethereal, cool, shimmery gray veil that illuminates so many ruminative works of misty sea, rainy hillsides and decaying barns.

But as an early morning walker (and early evening driver, from work), I nominate Maine’s October light as its most captivating. It is at these times of day, at this time of year, when the sun, low in the sky, conspires to take our breath away.

Complemented by the brilliance of the changing foliage, October light seems to have its own holy presence, not only accentuating the gorgeous scenery surrounding us but also creating its own sensuous reality. At times, I feel compelled to stop walking (or driving) and simply experience a perfect Zen moment, in awe of nature’s profound beauty.

I’ve occasionally voiced a loud “Wow!” or “That’s fantastic!,” startled by the sound of my own voice in the quiet morning upon a rural road that enjoys a playful game of tag with the rocky coast, opening up here and there with soul-satisfying ocean vistas bathed in rapturous fall light.

When my wife talks about painting, she often speaks a language I do not understand. She sees the world in forms and values and tones that elude me. She’ll point out a perfectly drab-looking scene of autumnal marsh, say, and comment on the wonderful purple color that runs through it. Purple, really? In that gray and brown marsh? Of course, when I look more closely, she’s right. There is purple there, right where she said it was, a swath of seasonally tinted sea grass, kindled by the most subtle October Maine light.

The Bible says God created the heavens and the Earth with a simple proclamation of light. Albert Einstein showed us how the unique properties of light reveal core mysteries of the universe. Blessed and enlightened by the power of light. It is a great gift. 

Steven Price is a resident of Kennebunkport.