Waldoboro’s Paint the Town Continues to Grow

Kevin Daley paints a lobster boat in “Roofs Looking Toward the Island” during Paint the Town. “Roofs” sold at auction for $100. (Jacob Hyatt photo)

Local artists spread out around Waldoboro to paint scenic and historic landmarks, then gathered for a successful auction during the ninth annual Paint the Town event on Saturday, Aug. 2.

The event was coordinated by Charlotte Davenhill, who has been involved all nine years. Tidemark Gallery, which was begun by five artists in the fall of 2005, started the event in 2006.

Paint the Town was originally the idea of John Blamey, but when he took ill after several years of involvement, Davenhill increased her own participation to the point where she was running the event.

Davenhill expressed happiness at how this year’s Paint the Town turned out and said her favorite part was “the amount of collaboration … It’s growing every year [and] for me, that means it’s working.”

This collaboration was evident in numerous ways. Davenhill worked well with President and acting Executive Director Chris Powers, of the Waldo Theatre, and the many volunteers who ran concessions and held paintings during the auction allowed the operation to go smoothly.

Another interesting example of collaboration was evidenced by a genial and talented teacher-student duo who participated on Saturday. The teacher, Carol L. Douglas, is a fine landscape artist who has garnered acclaim all over the country.

“I learned to paint from my Dad,” she said, on why she became an artist. “He was an excellent painter, which gave me the advantage of having good, 19th century-type training.”

Her parents didn’t want her to attend art school, so she held several jobs – such as a museum worker, a newspaper stringer, and a graphic designer for 20 years – before moving to Rochester, N. Y., with her husband and son. Her husband was so impressed by her skill at painting that he recommended that, rather than obtain a new client base in Rochester, she become an artist full time.

“The rest is history,” she said.

One of her current students, Loren Brown, accompanied her to Paint the Town and decided to paint the old button factory on the Waldoboro wharf. Brown was fascinated by the “history and landscape of the place,” and how these two factors came together in a beautiful way.

“This spot captures what Paint the Town is all about,” he said of the button factory.

One artist who took his equipment to neighboring Friendship, Kevin Daley, had some inspiring words to say about being an artist. Ten years ago, he took an art class “sort of on a whim” and found a great hobby.

“I think you can learn,” he said. “People think you just have it or you don’t. I don’t think that that’s true.”

After the artists had completed their paintings, they brought them to the Waldo Theatre, where they were hung up in preparation for the auction. A reception began promptly at 5 p.m. The artists milled about in groups, eating snacks, considering others’ artwork, and talking amongst themselves and with potential buyers.

The auction got underway at nine minutes past 6 p.m. Auctioneer Carol Achterhof, of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, sold 25 of the 60 pieces of artwork to lucky bidders, with all sales being made in a remarkable 64 minutes.

The biggest sale of the night was Greg Horwitch’s “Saturday in the Village,” which sold for $600. His other submission, “Pemaquid Sketch,” sold for $400. As the artist of those pieces, he kept 75 percent of the profits, with the other 25 percent going to local nonprofits – the Medomak Valley Land Trust, the Waldoboro Public Library, the Waldo Theatre, and the Medomak Valley Community Foundation.

Other artists also had success. Douglas’ “Red Truck at Lumber Yard” sold for $225, and her pupil, Loren Brown, sold his painting, “Button Factory,” for $175.

“I sold it! My first one!” Brown said, smiling.

Michael Vermette, another painter who visited Friendship on Saturday, sold one of his two paintings, “Mary’s Wharf,” for $525. On his way out the door, he remarked, “just sold the other one,” having found a buyer for his other painting immediately after the conclusion of the auction.

The paintings which did not sell, often because the bids were below the minimum, which occurred with lessening frequency as the event continued, were taken to Old Number 9 and sold at a silent auction on Sunday.

While many artists made money Saturday night – the total sales were just over $6,000 – and while all of them appeared to have a great time, the true winners might be said to be the four dozen attending buyers, many of whom went home with one, sometimes two, beautiful pieces of local art.