A new show opens on July 24 at Saltwater Artists Gallery featuring six artists, Mary Buergin, Kay Miller, Marcia Brandwein, Sandra Griffin, Carol Wiley and Caroline Howe, all of whom work in pastels.

Pastel is a challenging art medium. Pastel, in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments in pastel are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints. The color effect is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process, producing paintings of vibrant color.

Mary Buergin of Poland, new to Saltwater this year, works in pastel and oils. She paints the majority of her work on location, but also produces larger work in her Maine studio. Buergin’s paintings convey the emotion of the scene, capturing its subtle colors, lighting, mood and composition.

South Bristol’s Kay Miller is a co-founder of the Midcoast Printmakers, Inc. Miller has traveled the world with a sketchpad and pastels, and at home, has captured the Maine coast using her great sense of color to portray the many moods of the area.

New member Marcia Brandwein, a resident of Pemaquid, is showing her pastels at the gallery for the first time.

Sandra Griffin of Edgecomb works exclusively in pastel and has received a great response to her work over several seasons. Griffin works in the realist tradition and she has truly mastered the medium. Her works convey a great sense of light and tranquility.

Newcastle painter Carol Wiley sees art as a visual conversation between artist and the canvas. Maturity as an artist has given Wiley the freedom to use a variety of media to explore color relationships, interesting shapes, and linear movement without restriction to tell her story. Her pastels reflect this new-found growth and her work offers up exciting images for the viewer.

Caroline Howe of Bristol works in pastel and graphite. Howe’s goal is to convey the soul or the spirit of whatever she is drawing, and capture the moment and the sense of drama inherent in each subject.

The Saltwater Artists cooperative gallery is located at 3056 Bristol Road (Route 130 S) in New Harbor, just a half mile from the entrance to the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park.

The pastelists' works will be exhibited until Aug. 15. Examples of the work can also be seen at www.saltwaterartists.com.