Despite the rain on the evening of the Art For Art’s Sake show preview Aug. 25, art lovers found their way to Hodgdon Yachts to see what this year’s show had to offer – and no one left disappointed.

First timers in the annual show were watercolorist Suzi Thayer, Barter’s Island Bees’ Donna and Denny Denniston and plein air painter and weaver Wendy Bellows. Returning artists and artisans were Christine Thalia Andersen, Andre Benoit, Jill Butke, John Butke, Martha Cowdery and Michael Tomko of At Road’s End, Rick Dickinson, Clark Griffith, Don Josephson, Jeanne Lally, Nora Lally, Leslie Muir-Volpe, Suzanne Norton, Rimar Reed, Fran Scannell, Lynne Seitzer, John M. T. Seitzer, Ursula Smith and Betsy Wing.

Dickinson was there with his favorite model, wife Pandora – in real life and captured on canvas. A Boston School painter, Dickinson studied extensively with Paul Ingbretson at Ingbretson Studio of Drawing and Painting; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia; and Maine College of Art in Portland. His individual study has been with with Lois Griffel, Ty Hodanish, Ann Templeton, Don Stone, Don Demers, Lee Boynton and others.

The portrait of Pandora displayed on an easel was done two years ago as a live demo during an Art for Art’s Sake event. Other paintings featured still life of objects from his studio, which sometimes sit around there for years before being replicated on canvas. But what about the deer skull in one of the paintings at the show?

“Every Saturday morning I’m at the Rotary (Barn) buying stuff,” Dickinson said. “There are many hunters in the family, including a nephew who I asked to get a skull for me. The one I eventually got was brought intact, so I had to clean it myself with hydrogen peroxide.”

Dickinson has a show upstairs at the Opera House here in the Harbor. The show has been there for two years and features 365 daily plein air paintings of Townsend Gut with a view from near the Southport bridge towards the northwest and Isle of Springs representing the 12 months of the year. In groupings for each month, the pieces are 42” wide and 32” high.

The artist is looking for a home for them, someplace nearby where they will be displayed for the public to enjoy. If you have the location and wall space, email rick@dickinsonart.com

At Road’s End, a.k.a. Mike Tomko and Martha Cowdery, had some unique items, particularly the floor cloths hand-painted by Cowdery who displayed the history of the cloths. Dating back to 14th century France, they arrived in the Colonies in the 1700s and were made using recycled ship sails. Here in the States, cloths used under tables were called crumb cloths. Painted bright colors, they were used all over the home.

Cowdery painted some lovely brightly colored floor cloths made not of recycled ship sails but of cotton canvas, the decoration painted with acrylic and latex paints. Each floor cloth was given multiple coats of waterproof polyurethane to seal them. Her designs included brightly colored florals and patterns. Gorgeous for use in front of a sink, the entrance to a room, and as a mat for pet food and water dishes. The couple’s three cats have one and love it – well, their owners said so, anyway!

The Dennistons brought their honey for tasting and buying. Samples included the creamed honey Maine Mousse, the spicy Bee Stinger, blueberry lemon, cinnamon, ginger and, just in time for autumn, Maine Mousse Pumpkin Spice!