The Southport Memorial Library welcomes Maria Doelp and Deidre Amplo as their Artists of the Month for January and February.

Surrounded by unlimited artistic and visual opportunities, Maria Doelp finds simple, sometimes humorous compositions, and incorporates color and design patterns to satisfy the painting.

Maria lived and worked in Montgomery County, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended the Fleischer Memorial Art School there and was involved in the local art center as a student and teacher taking classes in pottery, batik, creating and printing a silk-screen design to incorporate in a quilt project.

Retiring and moving to Maine in 1998 generated new creative opportunities, stimulated by the natural environment.Mostly self-taught, Doelp has taken classes in watercolor, acrylic and oil with Sue Heil Kibbe, Jim Taliana, Sandra Dunn, Carol Jessen, Hannah Innesson and John Seitzer, at the Boothbay Region Art Foundation (BRAF) and at River Arts – where she has also exhibited some of her works.

Deidre Amplo's work includes originals from her "Maine Memories" calendar, produced from 2004 to 2012. The remainder of her work includes acrylics and oils on canvas, paper, and wood.

A resident of Southport since 2008, Amplo has also benefited from classes with local artists in the midcoast region including Kris Engman, John Seitzer, and Jim Taliana, as well as workshops and classes in the Hudson Valley of New York State where she lived prior to moving to Maine.

As a former teacher of young children, Amplo thinks of her paintings as stories on canvas, capturing people, places, and moments that touch her in some way.

Both of these artists have exhibited at the BRAF, Southport Yacht Club Art Show and the Southport Gift Barn.

The Southport Memorial Library is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday from 7-9 p.m. and is located at 1032 Hendricks Hill Road on Southport Island.