Landing Gallery, 409 Main St, Rockland, is pleased to announce the opening of “LOCAL COLOR: AN ALMANAC OF MAINE PAINTING”, a solo exhibit of 60 new paintings by Sarah Faragher, June 4 – June 29.

Sarah Faragher is a 1990 graduate of Colby College, Magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.  Her work was included in ART OF ACADIA by David Little and Carl Little, published in 2016 by Down East Books.  Sarah was an Artist-in-residence at Acadia National Park and the Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton, Connecticut and has been invited to participate, numerous times, in Art Week on Great Spruce Head Island.

“My paintings are memoirs of my experiences with nature.  Through painting I participate in the landscape, recognize transcendent moments in nature, honor the integrity of natural forms, and describe where my heart lives.  I often feel as if the places I paint have commissioned me to tell their autobiographies, at the same time that I tell my own.”

“The solitude and perseverance I cultivate as a painter serve me well in times of plenty, and even more so in times of distress. Last year I stayed close to home and found solace in my work.  I painted in the back yard, and by a neighbor’s driveway, and at the little beach at the end of the street.  I also took day trips to paint mountain vistas and quiet lakes, and attended a reclusive inland residency.  As the months passed, the seasons took on an inevitable rightness, as they always do.  To note the changes as they happened, I decided to paint a certain nearby hillside and a field by the sea here in town, during each season.  Focusing on these places and their transforming colors helped me navigate the ongoing seclusion, and reminded me of one of my core tenets of painting: what I observe and experience in the landscape echoes what I feel in my heart which I know to be true and real.

As the wheel of the seasons continues to turn, I pay particular attention to the times of solstice and equinox. Their ancient sacredness lives still.  They remind us of continuity and community. They’re patient, and offer the long view. When they arrive, their particularities come to the fore: the new growth, flowerings, ripenesses and fruit, and then the falling away.  Lush trees in full summer and their spare leafless elegance in winter become more beautiful and poignant to me than ever, as I paint them.  The anxiety I carry about the state of the world is assuaged by the remembrance of the cycle of nature as an ever-renewing wellspring. In my paintings and in life, I find that renewal and hope because I search for them, and keep searching until they reveal themselves. They’re here, today.

The varied colors of the landscape speak throughout the year, but winter might be my best-loved season. Daylight is valuable; darkness is peaceful.  I was born in December near the solstice, and my middle name is Noël.  I’m at home in the clear cold air and quietude.  I made friends with the bleak a long time ago.  Under the whites of the snow, earth colors warm my palette with umber, ochre, and sienna.  In winter I take stock, recommit to long-term projects, and rest.  January offers a fresh start.  Patterns of snowfall veil the familiar, and I rejoice in the absence of brighter colors, even while I daydream of spring greens and verdant island summers.”

Please join us in the gallery.  Hours: Weds, Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun 11-5, Closed Mon & Tue.  FMI 207 239-1223,