Kay Carter and Tom Gaines show at Local Color Gallery

Kay Carter and Tom Gaines are featured guest artists at Local Color Gallery in Belfast from Aug. 29 to Oct. 2.

Carter’s work reflects an intuitive reaction to the cycles of the Earth. Guided by a spiritual response to nature, a painting often starts with writing. The writing leads to design and then to painting. Color, texture and form in nature inform the work. Often it is non-representational. It focuses around the intimate energy, beauty and magic observed in the changing environment.

Recently, Carter’s work was shown at a single person show, “Close to Nature,” at the Bangor Public Library. Her work is also featured in the 2020 Art Maine Annual Guide, showcasing 88 of Maine’s outstanding artists. She is a member of the Bangor Art Society, Plein Air Painters of Maine and the Union of Maine Visual Artists.

Gaines is a contemporary American painter who works in oil. His earlier, more representational work contains recognizable subject matter but has strong abstract considerations. His more recent paintings, “The Rock Series,” are even more abstract — enigmatic in composition and more complex in surface and color. The surface of these paintings appears eroded, revealing multiple layers of subjectively selected colors. These compositions were inspired from his experiences on Penobscot Bay. He was drawn by the relationship of four components: sky, sea, sand and rock.

Gaines is a graduate of The University of Oregon and The School of Visual Arts in New York City. He also has an MFA from The University of California, San Diego. He resides in Moorestown, New Jersey, and has a summer studio in Belfast.

Local Color Gallery is at 135 High St., Belfast. The gallery is open seven days a week. Learn more at localcolorgallerymaine.com.