Nobleboro artist Priscilla McCandless will exhibit her work in a retrospective at Savory Maine Restaurant Dec. 8 through Jan. 3. To celebrate McCandless and her work, a public reception will be held in the main dining room on Friday, Dec. 9, from 3-5 p.m.   Savory Maine will provide delectable sweet and savory finger foods, and wine will be available.  

When McCandless and her husband moved from New Hampshire to Nobleboro in 1999 they also left their florist business to start their new art and woodworking venture - Seven Waters Studio. McCandless cites the real sense of community here in Maine and the support for artists of all kinds.

 

“There are many opportunities to receive responses from the public. This is quite a change from painting all alone in the woods with almost no feed-back, to living and working in a place where making art is usual. I love it here! This retrospective is my chance to show new work, and a selection of paintings from the past, which have passed the test of time. There are a few that have never been seen in public before, so I will look forward to the response.”

 

McCandless, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), creates paintings about color and strong composition, mostly in oils.  Landscapes, figures, still-lives and abstractions are included in this exhibition. 

 

“I like color. I like the man-made set in, or against, the natural: telephone poles, houses and silos defining trees, hills, the sky by their straight lines,” McCandless said. “I’m beginning to believe that there is no difference between figure-painting and landscape - houses, chairs, trees, even rocks are figures on a ground.  I’m interested in how light falls on objects- not just the quality of light but how shadows or brightness define objects better than outlines can do. That comes back to color…white objects are lavender or blue or yellow, depending on the light.”

 

She says, “My mantra is: it’s not what you paint but how you paint it.  I have to remind myself of this often enough - and it’s corollary: Just do it!”

In addition to Seven Waters Studio in Nobleboro, Priscilla McCandless is a founding member of The Stable Gallery on Water Street in Damariscotta. Contact her at her Studio 207-563-7296 or by email: 7waters@tidewater.net.

 

Savory Maine, located at 11 Water Street, Damariscotta, is open five days a week for lunch and dinner. Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  For more information call 207-563-2111 or visit www.savorymainedining.com.