Gleason Fine Art opens "Henry Isaacs: New Work" on Thursday, July 28. The show runs through Aug. 30, with a reception for Henry on First Friday, Aug. 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. This is the renowned artist's second solo show at the Boothbay Harbor gallery, and it will be a large one, with over two dozen paintings, some of them monumental in size. As always, the public is encouraged to attend the reception and have the chance to meet one of Maine's most highly respected and beloved artists.

Henry Isaacs' approach to painting mirrors the way he lives his life — with passion, energy, intelligence, joy, and self-assurance. His style — broken brushwork with a complex, multilayered palette of delicate blues, greens, pinks, and yellows — marks him as one of the most recognizable artists working in Maine today.

The reaction of a first-time viewer to Isaacs' paintings is inevitably, "Wow, his work is so beautiful and full of joy. Is the artist like that himself?" And the answer to the question is absolutely "Yes." Henry is one of the most engaging, joyous, and compassionate people you will ever meet. Self-effacing, yet worldly and well read, Isaacs has an immense number of collectors and Facebook followers. Yet he is always generous with his time and passionate about the world we live in.

Isaacs and his wife Donna have long divided their time between the village of Islesford on Little Cranberry Island and rural Vermont. Recently, they added a condo in Portland to their domestic rotation. But you won't see urban scenes — at least not yet. Thus far Isaacs has focused on the islands and waters of Casco Bay, just as he does when he's on Little Cranberry.

There is something magical about an Isaacs painting. Certainly he uses lots of color, layer upon layer of it. But how does he achieve his signature look? In the catalog for our last Isaacs show, Dan Kany, art historian and art critic for the Maine Sunday Telegram, wrote: "[Isaacs' painting] looks something like what you might get if Matisse tried to copy a Van Gogh using a pastel Fauvist palette . . . Success isn't a recipe or a checklist for Isaacs, but a sense. And in the same way that describing a Mozart piece in terms of music theory doesn't account for why it's so beautiful and satisfying, describing the structure of Isaacs' work doesn't explain his content or our response."

Gleason Fine Art is located at 31 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor. For further information, call the gallery at 207-633-6849. Summer hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.