Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-LA! It’s that holiday time of year boys and girls … Hanukkah, Yule/Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa … so many celebrations (not to mention birthdays and anniversaries, right?) happen in December, and that means shopping. Now, some of us aren’t too keen on the whole mall experience – noise, poor air circulation, and hundreds and hundreds of people bustling around you puts me, in particular, in a sour mood. Too much stimulation! And the commercialism of the season really hits home.

I was never so glad when one of my two daughters got a license and I was no longer sentenced to trips to the Portland Mall … where they could, and did, spend hours and hours. The only year it was not so bad was the one that had huge posters of photographs mounted on board, and dead center was the classic image of Johnny Depp in the bathtub. Surrounded by candles. In a hat. Bubbles. Tattoos. Wine glass. Some of the women reading this are nodding their heads thinking “Oh, yeah. I know the one she’s referring to.” Once seen, it cannot be forgotten. I spent a very long time gazing at Johnny while my girls darted here and there in shopping heaven. But … I digress … ah-hem!

What was I talking about? Oh. Yeah. Shopping. This time of year we still need to buy presents for loved ones, so if malls aren’t your scene, what do ya do? There’s online shopping – quite appealing in its quiet way. No stimulation overload. No wandering from one end of a mall to the other ...

Here’s an idea: Buy local. Here in the Boothbay region we still have a variety of places to shop in the off season – and they are very near each other, the air is delightful as you walk from store to store. And, with Men’s Night coming up on the 19^th friends, family and neighbors will all be out shopping too!

And, if you dig art – how could you not? — and you have people on your list that dig it too, I’ve got a few suggestions for you.

The Boothbay Region Art Foundation’s Art in the Square show and sale has been happening for what, almost 20 years? I was looking for something from 2010 and found a letter to the editor from someone raving about what a sweet opportunity the show/sale gave folks who couldn’t afford to buy art. Art in the Square is a show of 12” x 12” canvases with paintings by most local artists for $100. Artists like Roger Milinowski, Hilary E. Bartlett, Andre Benoit, Jean Kigel, Virginia Forrest, Bill Duncan, Christine Thalia Andersen, Polly Steadman, Teddi-Jann Covell, Daniel Cory … the list goes on.

Christine Andersen’s “Nostalgia” is a favorite of mine as it hearkens back to a simpler (or so it seems sometimes in retrospect) time … a family decorating their Christmas tree. There is such joy conveyed in this painting … it is a charmer – and a steal at $100!

BTW, the artist receives $75 of the sale price of each of these works. The balance goes to BRAF’s Scholarship Fund and Community Outreach Programs. One of those outreach programs is the Foundation’s sponsorship of museum passes to Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland. These passes are available all year for families or individuals at Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library; and goes toward two Boothbay Region High School Scholarship Awards and the Student Show held every Mother’s Day weekend.

If you’ve never checked this annual show and sale out at Boothbay Region Art Foundation, you’ve been missing out, big time. When this year’s show opened on Black Friday, 42 of those 12” x 12” works were bought! Many artists will replace a sold painting with a new one … and I’ll never forget a two-canvas piece that Maria Boord did in response to a sale one year that had a sign “Wet Paint” hanging nearby!

Just down the street from BRAF is Gleason Fine Art where the “Art For the Holidays” show is in full swing featuring painted/constructed ornaments by the likes of Ed Parker, Lani Havens, Jeff Barrett and Michael Vermette ... Decoupage plates by Diana Kerr, paintings by Andrea Peters, silver and gemstone jewelry by Christine Peters ... paintings by Kathleen Billis ... With potential gifts that can be found here, the art lover, or a lover of the unique, needs to go to Gleason Fine Art!

And right off I’ve gotta say the nature scene decoupage glass plates by the multi-talented Diana Kerr are drop dead gorgeous – and under $100! Any one of these would make a stunning gift and equally lovely display piece in some lucky someone’s home.

The tree ornaments, displayed on a tree – visible as soon as you walk in the door – are fun and detailed. Take Michael Vermette’s round canvases highlighting places in Maine from Schooner Point to Mount Katahdin … so gorgeous. Lani Havens’ Japanese paper boxes are truly works of art that would look equally divine on a bookshelf after the tree has been taken down. They are far too beautiful to be packed away with the rest of the decorations! And, Ed Parker – a Renaissance Man among artists (in my book, anyway) has carved and painted ornaments; his lighthouse dog will make you smile.

Parker has a couple beautiful Americana style Christmas paintings in this show/sale reminiscent of our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ day, yet would give any one of us pleasure to take a trip inside them and pretend we are in the paintings too … place yourself in the window of one of the houses below the angel flying overhead rubbing our eyes because we cannot believe we are seeing what we are seeing. The other Christmas painting features “ ... a little old driver so lively and quick I knew in  a moment it must be St. Nick.” When you gaze at this one, you become a kid again. You really do.

So, get out there and get that shopping done! Enjoy yourself while you’re doing it! And, if you do happen to find yourself in a mall with your kids, look for some of those posters ... I highly recommend the Johnny Depp.