Sometimes museums don’t have to try so hard. Two modest exhibitions on view at the Cape Ann Museum prove that in different ways. Dorothy “Doffie” Arnold, who passed away last year, was a prolific painter and socially aware artist. Rather than a retrospective filled with larger canvases, the museum has gathered a small show as a remembrance: 16 acrylic on paper views from Crane Beach, all in the identical perspective. Rapidly completed, Arnold worked with brush and palette knife to capture changing light in the ocean view from the beach. The landscapes veer toward abstraction. Colours vary broadly. The viewpoint remains steady: looking out to sea, a thin strand of beach at the bottom foreground, with the tumult of the sky occupying most of the image. Published in Daily Times, January 18th 2019.