With warming temperatures and bustling boatyards pointing toward the coming summer season, the organizers of the Maine Boat and Home Show are toasting spring by announcing that Show Time, a colorful and lively painting by Rockport artist Stephen Florimbi, will be the artwork used for this year’s boat-show poster.

According to a Boat and Home Show news release, it’s become a tradition for Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine, which launched the show in 2003, to use works by local artists to promote the show, to be held this year, Aug. 7-9, at Rockland’s Harbor Park. Last year’s poster also featured a work by Florimbi, a painting titled Coming and Going.

“Stephen’s paintings capture the vibrancy of the wide variety of boats to be found along the Maine Coast,” said Ted Ruegg, publisher of Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, in the release. “It’s these boats, along with all the other aspects of coastal living, that our show celebrates.”

This year’s painting was created especially for the show, with Florimbi capturing a scene showing a sailboat and powerboat steaming toward the Rockland waterfront. Florimbi, whose career has also included working as a timber-frame carpenter and wooden boatbuilder, left a job as general manager at Rockport Marine in 2022 to concentrate entirely on his artwork. Year round, he can be found busily painting plein air scenes along the Midcoast and beyond.

“I was pleased to be asked again to create the show poster for this year’s Maine Boat and Home Show,” said Florimbi. “I truly enjoy the process of working with the team at MBH&H. This year I explored a half a dozen concepts when I came upon the idea of sailing into Rockland harbor for the show. It’s been years since I sailed into Rockland, but my imagination filled in the blanks and after a few edits from the team, I think we came up with a wonderful image that represents the joy and spirit of the show.”

“We are thrilled to work with Stephen again this year,” said Kate Holden, show manager. “The painting’s view from the water offers a wonderful perspective of the show grounds, with the city of Rockland in the background. Stephen was able to capture Harbor Park with our tents, docks, buildings, boats on land and in water, and our iconic flags. We look forward to having Stephen at the show again this summer.”

Held annually on the second weekend in August on the waterfront in Rockland, the Maine Boat & Home Show attracts thousands of discerning attendees from across the country and around the world, according to the Show. The three-day event is Maine’s only in-the-water boat show. As always, the festival will feature sailboats and powerboats displayed in the water and on land, plus seminars, music, art, food, furniture, and fun, according to the Show.

For more about the show, to buy tickets, or view this year’s schedule of events, visit maineboats.com/boatshow. To see more of Florimbi’s work and learn more about the artist, visit stephenflorimbi.com.