Work by Janice Anthony.

Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay Harbor will open two new shows on Aug. 31: “Janice Anthony: At One with Nature” and “Roger Dale Brown: Painting the Town.” The artists’ reception for both shows is from 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 1, and the shows run through Sept. 26.

JANICE ANTHONY: AT ONE WITH NATURE

Unlike many painters who live in Maine, Janice Anthony lives far from the busy coast, in the tiny, up-country, Waldo County town of Jackson, population 610. On any given day, you can find Anthony hiking deep in the Maine woods or paddling along a quiet inlet searching for the perfect untouched spot to sketch. Mossy rocks, banks of ostrich ferns, wild tumbles of storm-downed trees, swales of eel grass, and mists rising over estuaries and ponds are all subjects that inspire Anthony. She seeks out landscapes untouched by people. In an Anthony painting, the only sign of human activity might be a marine marker along one of her favorite salt rivers.

“I feel a great affection for the otherness of the natural world,” says Anthony. “For a place that I have just entered which existed autonomously before I saw and felt it and which continues to exist when I leave.”

In person, Anthony is as soft-spoken and unassuming as she wishes her presence to be in the natural environment. One of Maine’s outstanding and most highly awarded realist painters, Anthony brings decades of experience to any task she undertakes. “I feel most at home painting in the solitude of nature. The act of painting unites me with a wildness that I recognize in myself. Putting paint onto canvas is where I find my bearings, at the intersection of the image and the brush.”

Work by Roger Dale Brown.

ROGER DALE BROWN: PAINTING THE TOWN

Tennessee native Roger Dale Brown shares one trait in common with Maine native Anthony: a deep love and appreciation for Maine. Brown visits the Maine coast every summer and occasionally during the fall and winter too. As with so many artists before him, Brown marvels at Maine’s dazzling, clear light. As a plein-air painter, he does most of his work on the spot, wherever he sets up his easel. Brown particularly enjoys locations that have remained untouched for decades, such as old piers and fish shacks that nestle here and there along the Midcoast.

Brown’s personal journey has taken him to many of the states in the U.S., but he returns to the Boothbay peninsula frequently. For Brown, “Art is a privilege, a gift and a journey,” he says. 

Brown credits past masters, such as the great John Singer Sargent, as his inspiration. Over his career, he has amassed many awards and memberships, including memberships in the prestigious Oil Painters of America and the American Impressionist Society. In that capacity, he has been asked to jury numerous plein-air competitions. But at day’s end, for Brown, it is being onsite painting a scene that time seems to have forgotten that brings him the deep satisfaction that comes with doing something you love and doing it well.

Gleason Fine Art is at 31 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor. Summer gallery hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call Gleason Fine Art at 207-633-6849, email the gallery at info@gleasonfineart.com, or go to www.gleasonfineart.com.