Work by Claire Hancock.

Claire Hancock and Bob Vaughan, both longtime Pemaquid Art Gallery member artists, present paintings that are notable for a gentle stillness, rich luminosity and delicate color ranges but in different mediums with very different results.

Both artists are inspired by the beauty surrounding them in Maine but each artist focuses on closeup scenes with quite different interpretations.

Hancock’s most popular work has been her highly detailed pastel paintings with near trompe l’oeil exactness and rich, old-master depth, whereas Vaughan’s signature works are luminous, quiet landscapes of Maine villages, buildings and harbors that present a quiet clarity of vision and pleasant calm.

For Hancock, art was deeply meaningful from childhood, and she acquired her skills through self-teaching in oil and pastel and by studying watercolor with local artists. Painting remained a beloved hobby until, in 1996, she left a job she liked to pursue the pastime she loved. Only a year later, she was juried into the Pemaquid Group of Artists, and her work is now displayed in private and corporate collections across the country. Her work has appeared in many exhibitions in this area as well, where she has won first place awards and worked on large commissions.

Work by Bob Vaughan.

With a similar lifelong love of art, Vaughan waited until retirement when he moved to Bristol to focus on painting. The watercolor medium, with its unpredictability and delicacy, attracted him most, and in 2010, he began taking watercolor workshops with Damariscotta artist Jan Kilburn, among others. He paints plein air with local groups in the summer and has been the president of the Pemaquid Group of Artists for several years. His work has been featured in many exhibitions throughout the area.

Work by both artists are contemplative, calming and peaceful. Hancock’s small pastels as well as paintings in other mediums, with an extensive range of subject matter, are powerful in their rich colors, and a certain spiritual light suffuses the detailed landscapes, seascapes and still life pieces. Vaughan’s mastery of light comes from a different source, exploiting the transparency of delicately colored watercolor washes layered over each other or melding in a controlled blending and taking advantage of edges that soften or sharpen for the desired effects. Comparing the two artists expands the viewer’s awareness of the many artistic paths to deep, peaceful visions of our surrounding world.

The other 2022 exhibiting Pemaquid Group of Artists members include Barbara Applegate, Debra Arter, Bruce Babb, Julie Babb, Stephen Busch, John Butke, Dianne Dolan, Gwendolyn Evans, Peggy Farrell,  Sarah Fisher, Kay Sawyer Hannah, Kathleen Horst, Hannah Ineson, Will Kefauver, Jan Kilburn, Barbara Klein, Patti Leavitt, Sally Loughridge, Judy Nixon, Alexandra Perry-Weiss, Belva Ann Prycel, Paul Sherman, Marnie Sinclair, Gary Smith, Cindy Spencer, Liliana Thelander, Kim Skillen Traina, Barbara Vanderbilt, Candace Vlcek and Sherrie York.