“Maine Lobster,” by Elaine Fletcher
Damariscotta River Grill will host three new artists with three distinctly different styles and mediums to welcome the summer art season. The show will open Monday, June 12 and will be on display through Monday, July 24. One can meet artists Lonie Laffely Ellis, Elaine Fletcher, and Diane Noble at the Art at the Grill opening reception, Wednesday, June 14, from 4-5:30 p.m. Enjoy beautiful art while savoring an array of delicious hors d’oeuvres.
Ellis enjoys working out of her home studio in Topsham with multiple mediums, including ceramics, encaustic painting, and fiber arts. Her art background includes some formal education, though she attributes most of her knowledge to curiosity, exploration, and self-learning.
“My path through life has often incorporated a creative element. For me, creating is what feeds my spirit and awakens the senses. I believe all things can inspire, teach, and ignite the creative spark inside each of us,” said Ellis. “Being curious is part of being an artist and I enjoy the freedom and challenges of expressing what is around me in my art. Nature is the greatest teacher, and I enjoy exploring the outdoors in every season.”
Fletcher, of North Yarmouth, utilizes several mediums in her art: watercolor, oils, and ink. A retired art teacher, she has painted professionally for many years. A graduate of the University of Maine at Orono, she has also studied at the University of Southern Maine and Maine College of Art.
“As I put paint to canvas, panel, or paper, I uncover the way I see the image,” Fletcher said. “The piece develops as time, unnoticed, passes, filled with a growing relationship between myself and the work, layer upon layer. At the heart of each piece is a timeless sense of place, personal, yet inviting the viewer to interact with, to share, and to personalize the moment.”
Noble is an artist and a recently retired art educator. Since 2005, she has focused on acrylic landscape painting after working in many art mediums. “I have always loved the outdoor wide open spaces, where you can see way off into the distance,” she said. “I am drawn to fields with rivers beyond, coves, marshes, tidal pools, and long beaches, roads that go on forever. I love the water, rowboats, lobster boats, and meandering in and amongst islands looking way off in the distance wondering what I’ll see next. I begin painting by laying out the composition with a purple drawing. I develop an under-painting with blue and red violet and yellow ochres, matching the values shape by shape. I proceed to build up the painting, layering the colors by value, working on all areas of the composition, adjusting as I go. I add the highlights last and then hang the painting up to view for days or weeks, going back to it as needed.
“There is something enlightening about staring at a blank canvas with an image in my head and the excitement about what will develop as I work and complete it,” said Noble. “It’s a joy of finding out what’s inside me.”
Call the Damariscotta River Grill for more information at 562-2992 or go to the restaurant’s Facebook page. The restaurant is located at 155 Main St., Damariscotta. It is open seven days a week for lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch.
