Two watercolor artists currently showing at Pemaquid Gallery in New Harbor are Cindy Spencer of Wiscasset and Peggy Farrell of New Harbor. They both are inspired by the light and colors of Maine scenery, from coastal scenes to barns and gardens.

Peggy Farrell is a long time member of the gallery and currently serves as gallery manager. Although she has worked in several art media including oil, tole painting, stained glass and calligraphy, it is watercolor that has captured her heart. Her loosely rendered watercolor images are a favorite of gallery visitors. Recently she has also painted in gouache, or opaque watercolor, particularly when creating portraits of birds in a natural setting, which she will be showing this year at the gallery.

Working often from memory during winter months, Farrell recreates garden subjects, featuring both flowers and vegetables, as well as scenery familiar to every Maine coast visitor in summer. When painting figures, both human and animal, she seeks to capture the gesture or essence of the subject. As she comments “painting is my secret garden. I go there to find my inner self and put feelings and observations on paper. When I am painting, I am just quietly me.”

Find more about Peggy Farrell and her work at www.thepottingshedstudio.com.

Cindy Spencer also enjoys watercolor which she feels “encourages her work to be alive with discoveries.” Prior to coming to coastal Maine, she lived and painted in the Mt. Washington Valley, with about thirty years of experience in watercolor.

Like Farrell, Spencer paints in an impressionistic style, working on her paper at an angle to allow pigment to flow and mingle spontaneously. Her paintings invite the viewer to engage their own imagination as they encounter the loosely rendered images. Color and light inspire the painter, and fill her paintings of local Maine scenery. She is also a watercolor instructor, offering both group and private classes at her studio in Wiscasset.

Read more about the artist and her work at cindyspencerart.com.