Leslie Anderson didn’t think this winter was too bad.

That’s because the Portland painter spent most of her time since November cooped up in her studio making bright, happy paintings of summer scenes.

Anderson shows about a dozen of her paintings through April 29 at Daunis Fine Jewelry in Portland. The show is titled “In and Out of the Garden,” and filled with colorful, cheerful paintings of lupines, lobster traps and meandering country lanes.

Anderson and her husband, Dan Nygard, spend half the year in Portland and the other half up the coast in Sedgwick, where Nygard operates Dan’s Flower Farm. While he raises flowers, she makes art.

Only recently has she learned to paint flowers. “Flowers in fields are a big part of my life, but I don’t know how to paint them,” she said.

This show suggests she is a quick learner. Many of Anderson’s paintings depict her husband’s creativity.

Advertisement

She studies with Bath painter Tina Ingraham. As an assignment, Ingraham instructed her students to study an artist they admire through the years to see how the work evolved.

Anderson chose Matisse, and paid particular attention to his patterns and stripes, as well as his many paintings of flowers.

During winter trips to museums across the Northeast, she also looked at a lot of paintings by Van Gogh. The paintings in this show reflect the influence of those masters.

Anderson began paintings 13 years ago, when she retired from a marketing job.

Anderson’s work also is available in book form. She made the paintings for the newly published “Summer Stories” by Shanti Arts Publishing. The book features her paintings along with a dozen short stories inspired by these paintings.

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or:

bkeyes@pressherald.com

Twitter: pphbkeyes

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: