Walking into Boothbay Region Art Foundation during its annual Art in the Square the week of Dec. 11, I felt a slow smile cross my face ... and then I saw June Rose making a sale and the smile turned into a grin. 

The first floor walls are awash with colorful 12” x 12” canvases, as they have been for well over 10 years, anyway, this time of year. Art in the Square is the event that makes it possible for most anyone to own art by local, national and international artists. Seventy of these creative souls have created this year’s affordable masterpieces. How affordable? How does $125 grab your holiday wallet? Yep, that’s what about 40 Early Bird shoppers found as they flew in to BRAF Nov. 19, the kickoff day for the show. Gallery manager June Rose said sales have remained steady since, with 80 gone by late week!

Now, for those of you looking to give something along traditional holiday lines, be sure to check out Marjorie deGarmo’s “Winter Sleigh Scene.” This charming, old-world style painting depicts a couple out for a daytime sleigh ride; with snowflakes falling around them they are leaving their farm with the decorated tree outside the house, lots of pine trees in the distance, passing by holly bushes …

When I look at it I imagine the woman in the sleigh is wearing one of those muff handwarmers, you know, we all had them as kids in the early 60s – I had a white fluffy fur one that had a blonde doll’s head wearing a winter hat – might have been blue. Anyway, they sure kept your hands warm – not that you could use them tucked in as they were.

Another Christmas-themed painting is quite charming – I wanted to buy it on the spot: Check this out: Cheryl Young’s “A Buck in Winter” has that buck under a moonlit sky looking in the direction of a brightly lit, cozy-looking house as the snow falls.

The seasonal 12’ x 12” that made me laugh out loud had Santa and his sleigh (a giant lobster trap) being pulled by a team of lobsters flying over a lighthouse! This one was created by Maria Doelp. Some lobsterman around here really needs to have this one.

And if, like me, you have a sense of humor, there’s “Jesus Walks His Holy Cow(!) At Dusk” by Alijah Shien. Jesus’ expression is quite serene and the pair seem to be enjoying their walk. Light is lifting up from the mountainous background … dawn, like hope, “springs” eternal.

Mixed media work in the show is fantastic. Check this out: Artist Karen Grindell has a piece in the show called, “Bookin the City,” in which she used actual book spines for the houses or apartments lining the city street. One book is a biography on Catherine the Great (one I have in my women’s biographies section of my library), and the other three are history books. Oak moss shrubbery is fun, too.

When it comes to abstracts, mixed media abstracts, look no further than the three by Jillian Herrigel. With “Flower Shop” I was first attracted by the colors – pinks, greens, and browns – the amaryllis, moss-covered rock, bubbling areas, and text from a book about keeping in touch … And, being a symbolism fanatic and interested in the meaning of flowers, I had to look up the pink amaryllis – and wouldn’t you know it, it symbolizes friendship ...

Andre Benoit has several pieces in the show, including “Put back in the box (wooden soldiers)” – now this is a perfect gift for anyone who loved to play with soldiers as a child, a young boy on your shopping list or a man who still has that youthful heart of old.

There are gorgeous photographs of wildlife and local locations – including work by Lois Glaser. And they are stunning. And fiber art – Jill Butke has some fun pieces in holiday colors ... “Study in Green and Red” is intricately festive.

Art not in squared canvases in this year’s holiday show includes June’s “Over the Top” hats crocheted in many colors; and Annette Stormont’s tree pins and her rectangular ceramic scenic (say that three times fast – heck, say it twice fast!) of a sailboat on a lively sea passing by a pine tree (white pine most likely – it is Maine’s tree). 

This year, BRAF set up a small train – and, yes, it works! Trains plus Christmas equal grown men in engineer hats playing with trains at home and building new train sets with grandchildren ... and then – it’s the best time of all at Christmas: play time. Imaginations engaged. All aboard?

Don’t miss Art in the Square running through the New Year, but why wait that long? It’s gift-giving season: Hanukkah begins Dec. 18, Winter Solstice is Dec. 21 ... and Christmas is ... yikes! Better throw on your warmest coat and climb aboard your gas, diesel, electric sleigh and get it done!

BRAF, at 1 Townsend Ave. in downtown Boothbay Harbor, is open Thursday - Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by chance.