Hi friends, family, and painting people.  A brief update about 2022 and where to keep on seeing my paintings this year.  A few hardy souls visited my studio recently to look at and purchase work (thank you!), and my solo show at Landing Gallery in Rockland was successful.  Thanks to everyone who went to the gallery, and came to see me.   You are greatly appreciated.  Both Landing Gallery and Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor have work of mine on hand as we speak, for the rest of 2022.

Also, three of my paintings are currently hanging up alongside some great local painters at The Hichborn restaurant here in Stockton Springs.  Thank you to owners Kirk and Charlie for their support of art and artists.  Their latest venture is a gastropub on Route 1 in Searsport, Hey Sailor! which also features local art.  Please check out and support their endeavors, whenever possible.

And, the annual fundraising exhibit at the Blue Hill Public Library is coming right up, for the month of August.  The show is Summer Dreams, curated by Jennifer Mitchell-Nevin and Marcia Stremlau, and I have four small paintings in that show.  Here's one of them:

Cloud shadow, July, the reach, Brooklin, Maine - oil/panel, 11 x 14", 2021.

Lastly, a few small paintings of mine will be available in the one-day Pie and Art Festival at the Stockton Springs Community Library on Saturday August 20th.  And, I still have some paintings up in several other venues - the Monson Arts Gallery in Monson, Maine, the Chocolate Church Arts Center in Bath, and the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport (please see my last post for details on these ongoing group shows).  Phew, I think that's it.

But no, one more item of note:  I'm a featured artist in the summer issue of The Maine Arts Journal.  The essay that accompanies the images of my paintings is an edited excerpt from the memoir I wrote, Autobiography of an Island.  Thanks to the Union of Maine Visual Artists and the editors of the Journal for thinking of my work for this issue, entitled Beyond Plein Air.

Both outside and in the studio I'm painting steadily, as I continue to address the ocean of grief I find myself adrift upon since losing my husband Ryan almost a year ago.  It has been a difficult series of days and months, to say the least, and I am so grateful for the kindness, compassion, empathy, and care that so many have sent his way, and my way too.  Wherever you are, may the remainder of your summer be filled with ease, peace, and plenty.  Love from me, here, always.

An update about my paintings, from here in Stockton Springs.  Several are making forays to upcoming exhibits that are about to open.

First I have three paintings in Picturing Penobscot Bay, curated by Carl Little, at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine.  The show opens on June 2nd, and will be up for the summer/fall season.  Wonderful painters from all over the bay are in this exhibit, including Brita Holmquist, Jill Hoy, Anina Porter Fuller, Colin Page, Scott Moore, and many others.

Then, two of my paintings are in the Monson Arts Gallery for their exhibit The Art of Monson, for the summer season.  The show runs May 23rd - October 31st and was also curated by the omniscient art-angel Carl Little.  More great art to be seen in this show, including work by Roberta Weaver Jarvis, Jemma Gascoine, Ed Hoovler, Milton Christianson, Alan Bray, Todd Watts, and more.

Also, two paintings were selected by painter/curator/professor extraordinaire Breehan James for an exhibit called Summer Breeze at the Chocolate Church Arts Center in Bath, Maine.  The show is up from June 10th - July 30th.

And, last week I delivered 37 paintings to Landing Gallery in Rockland for my upcoming solo show in June, Portraits of Place, which runs June 2nd to June 26th.  Bruce and Roberta at Landing Gallery will have some of my work up all summer.  Rockland has become an art destination, and I'm fortunate to have another season there with these wonderful gallerists.

Littlefield Gallery is also carrying my work for the summer and fall, and the paintings of mine they now have on hand are viewable on their artist page for me, at their website.  Jane and Kelly Littlefield are looking forward to a busy summer at the gallery.

A last note, before I sign off and go paint for the afternoon: the not-enough-superlatives-to-describe-him Carl Little has written about my memoir Autobiography of an Island in the June 2022 issue of The Working Waterfront, published by the Island Institute.  Page 23.  Thank you, Carl.

Below is a painting from my solo show at Landing Gallery.  Thanks for reading, and for looking at my work.  I appreciate your continued interest and support, always.  Love from here.

October barren off Old County Road, Stockton Springs, Maine - oil/panel, 24 x 48":

Hi friends.  A few notes about the year ahead.  I've been painting steadily, and framing older work for sale, for the upcoming season.  I'm glad to be showing work with Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor, Maine again this year (please take a look at my page on their website for their current inventory of my available paintings).  I will also be having a solo show of some older paintings along with a few new ones from early last year, at Landing Gallery in Rockland, Maine in June.  This will be a retrospective of sorts, as I've been looking back at over twenty years of working with the landscape here in Maine/Dawnland.  The show is called Portraits of Place.  I consider the paintings I make to be portraits of individual sentient places, as well as self-portraits.

With that in mind, copies of the memoir I published in late December of 2021, entitled Autobiography of an Island (about painting and living on Bear Island in Penobscot Bay) will also be available at both galleries this year, and from me directly.  The book is a small hardcover, 282 pages, text only.  It's dedicated to my husband Ryan, who remains utterly foundational to who I am as a painter and person.  I miss him beyond words (even though I write about him, and to him, in my diary, daily) and am doing my best to work through each day without him as it arises and passes by.  I've been making a series of paintings about the experience of losing him and still loving the world.  Some of this work I show on my social media accounts as I make it, and other paintings remain private for the time being.  The series is called the tree, the rock, and the field.  Nearly eight months has passed since Ry stepped away, and everything changed.  I'm grateful I can still paint and express my emotions in that way, at the same time that I continue to describe the experience of being with the landscape, and working together to create images.  I remain committed to painting.

I will have more paintings news to share in a month or two, about some other exhibits my work will be in ths summer.  Thanks for reading.  Peace, and love from here.  

Dear friends, a brief note from here.  As many of you already know, my beloved husband Ryan died at the end of July.  He was 51.  Even after more than three months it's still so difficult to write those words, much less live them.  Since he died I've been attempting to come to terms with life as it now is.  There have been many details and things I had to deal with, and did, and many details and things I cannot yet deal with, but may be able to someday.  In the meantime I paint, to keep my hands moving, fill the days with work, and engage my whole self with the world.  Many of my recent paintings are of the landscape, but it's a new landscape.  An interior one I'm learning about.  So many of us love Ry, and life without his presence is unthinkable, but here we are.  Please bear with me, as I find my way.  Thank you for walking through this new territory alongside me, if you're choosing to do so, and thank you for reading.  A new painting, for Ry, with all my love.

elegy for ry, fieldstone, end of october, mount ephraim road, north searsport, maine - oil/panel, 11 x 14", 2021

Hi there painting enthusiasts.  It's that time of year - I'm preparing to bring sixty paintings to Landing Gallery later this week for my solo show, Local Color: an almanac of Maine painting.  Show dates are June 4 - June 29, and we will not be having an opening.  Gallery hours are Thursday - Sunday, from 11 - 5, and other times by appointment, if anyone prefers to be in the gallery without other people coming in.  The gallery will have the catalogue for the show, and I also have copies, plus a low-resolution pdf of it, and image files for the complete show, for those who would like to take a look at everything from afar.  Just send me an email (sarah@sarahfaragher.com) or contact Bruce at the gallery (landinggallery@gmail.com).  Ten paintings are already reserved or sold, for which I say THANK YOU to the folks who keep a weather eye on my work.  I appreciate you very much!

This is one of the paintings from the show, made last fall during the solitary residency I attended in the northwestern part of the state:  Late September view to Attean Mountain and Attean Pond, from Jackman, Maine - oil/panel, 24 x 48", 2020.

And here is the catalogue cover, showing a companion painting:  July morning, view to Attean Mountain and Attean Pond, from Jackman, Maine - oil/canvas, 16 x 20", 2020.

Ken Woisard photographed 31 paintings for the catalogue, Dee Yocom prepared the layout, and Modern Postcard printed lots of copies.  It's a quiet thrill to hold them in my hands, after months and years of work.  Thanks for looking, and be well, friends!  I hope to see you at an art opening again someday, even if it can't be this summer.

Hello, friends.  Like the meadow voles and flocks of robins in the yard this week, I'm beginning to take a decided interest in the imminent spring.  How welcome it is; what a long year it's been.  Working outside when I could and painting in my studio when I couldn't has carried me through, so far.  I'll be glad to see the pandemic go, whenever it does go.  Over the winter, I've been staying close to home and keeping safe.  Right now I'm working on framing paintings for my upcoming solo show with Landing Gallery in Rockland.  In mid-May I'll bring around fifty paintings to the gallery, and the show will be up around June 1st, for the month of June.  A catalogue is in the works and if anyone would like to receive a pdf of it in May, or photos of the paintings in the show, I will be ready to provide such things probably by the first week of May, if not the second week.  The gallery will have paper copies of the catalogue, too.  The show is called Local Color: an almanac of Maine painting and will feature mostly small works made over the last two years, as the seasons changed, one to the next.  There's some snow, some fall color, some June flowers, some wintery shorelines, some hot summer sun, some fog, and some of the new growth of spring.  Being out in nature throughout the year remains my joy.  Here's one of the paintings from the show - harvest moon, white pines, Stockton Springs, Maine - oil/panel, 8 x 10":  

I will also be showing paintings again this year with Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor.  They keep some of my available work up throughout the year, and on my page on their website, then around fifteen paintings of mine will be in a group show in the gallery in mid-September into October.  I feel very fortunate to be represented by two such wonderful galleries, in two different parts of the state I love so very much.

Thank you to friends and collectors who purchased paintings last year.  2020 was a banner year in that regard, and the extra funds allowed me to complete phase one of my studio renovation, in the little old cape house across the street from where my husband Ryan and I live.  We bought the cape several years ago, gutted it completely, down to the hand-hewn beams, and it now has a new roof.  Phase two will follow later this year, if all goes well.  I appreciate the support and interest more than you will ever know.

I will write again with more news before summer, since I also spent much of the winter finishing the book I've been working on, about painting on Bear Island, in Penobscot Bay.  The book itself is done, and now I'm doing some final housekeeping chores related to it.  I hope to self-publish copies in July.  Please stay tuned for more news about that, keep an eye out for crocuses - any day now! - and take care, in the months ahead.

I know it's not quite fall yet, but the loud crickets say otherwise, as does the waning light.  The end of summer finds me painting nearby, here and there, and working on my memoir about a decade of painting weeks on Bear Island, in Penobscot Bay.  It's coming along, and I hope to call it done sometime soon.  Meanwhile, an unexpected opportunity has arisen.  Two years ago I applied for a residency at Monson Arts, to draw and paint in the woods and around the mountains, lakes, and rivers of northwestern Maine.  I was not accepted but was put on a waiting list, and managed to accomplish some of what I'd hoped to do, on my own.  But now it seems my time has come, because I was asked to fill in at short notice, since someone else can't make it to the next residency.

At first I thought, No, it's a pandemic, I can't go anywhere or do anything, but after talking it over with Ryan and the program director, I came to my senses.  I'll be as safe as possible, with my own house and studio, take-out meals, and distance from the other residents.  In short, I'll be in even more solitude than I currently am.  Which is conducive to painting, to say the least.  The bottom line is this: if I didn't go, I'd be home, anxiety-laden, wishing I was painting the mountains.  So I'll go paint the mountains!  I leave in a few days, and will be at the residency for about a month, with a brief break in the middle for a visit back at home to be on hand for some construction we had already scheduled.  The break will also give me a chance to pick up any more supplies I might need, along with cold-weather clothing.  Of course I will also want to hug my husband, and Hodge the cat, who already suspects that I'm going away and is unpleased.  I'm hoping for weeks of good weather, so I can be out painting as much as possible, and Hodge can sleep in warm sun-patches until I return home, and it's woodstove season once again.

Wish me luck!  I've stretched canvases and gessoed them, and sanded and gessoed panels, and am packing my supplies: new brushes, lots of paint, my watercolor kit too, and diary.  I'll be busy, I know, but I would also welcome some quiet time in the woods, doing not much of anything except looking, listening, and just being.  Stay well, friends, talk with you when I return.  

downstream, barrows falls, monson, maine - oil/panel, 8 x 10", 2018.

We are in the thick of it here in Maine, with high heat and humidity.  The bright fresh greens of June and early July are wilting and taking on tinges of ochre.  Dandelions, daisies, and hawkweed have gone by.  Queen Anne's lace and black-eyed Susans and daylilies are blooming.  I'm already looking forward to fall, and sweaters, and firewood.  Not to mention voting.  The ongoing pandemic has meant that my usual annual painting activities have changed.  I've stayed closer to home this summer, and haven't ventured out to the islands I usually go to, to paint alone and with friends.  I miss them terribly (the islands and friends both) but continue to feel fortunate to live where I do.  A mile down the street is a big open field, mercifully unbuilt upon, with a view out to sea, and I set up by the side of the road and paint there, in fog and heat both.  I'll keep painting that view as the weather turns to fall and then winter.  I'm planning another solo show with Landing Gallery in Rockland, for the spring of 2021, about the seasons and the rewards of close observation of them.  I will also be showing more work about Schoodic and Mount Desert Island with Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor, in 2021.  Both galleries continue to keep some of my work up on the walls right now, and both are open to the public most days, with safety precautions, or by appointment when solitary art-viewing is preferrable.  Thank you to everyone who saw the shows this year, virtually and in person, and bought work too.  I appreciate it so very much.

One more item of note about summer doings around here: the annual August art exhibit at the Blue Hill Public Library is happening soon, and three small paintings of mine are included.  This show is curated by Marcia Stremlau and Jennifer Mitchell-Nevin, and they select work from local painters, sculptors, and potters.  I'm so pleased to be participating again this year.  Here's one of the paintings I just dropped off with Jennifer a few days ago:  

​September by the falls bridge, Blue Hill, Maine - oil/panel, 9 x 12", 2019.  There are those early fall colors I'm starting to notice already in the trees.  The show will be up on August 1st.  Proceeds from art sales are split between the library and the artists, a win-win for the enire community.  Thanks for reading, stay safe, and be well!   

Hi friends and painting enthusiasts.  Wishing you all well.  What a time.  My husband Ryan and I have been staying home for five weeks, going on six.  He does his work remotely now, as do so many others, with his phone, the internet, and teleconferencing.  I'm working as usual, even though everything is different, and I'm not finding it easy to focus on painting, or much else beyond small everyday activities and projects.  In other words, we take it day by day around here.  We are very fortunate to live where we do, on a quiet residential street, with wonderful neighbors, in a small village, on the gorgeous coast of Maine.  The ocean is visible from our house (we live halfway up a hill that faces south, down Penobscot Bay), and we often walk the mile it takes to be standing right by its side.   We take longer walks too, all around town.  Sometimes we pack a lunch or snacks, and last weekend I even took my watercolor kit and did some sketching.  Spring is slowly budding, here.  No leaves are out yet, but the grass is rapidly greening.  I've been digging up the garden beds and thinking of transplanting and planting.  We already have chives and other herbs showing vigorous signs of life.  And I am trying to do likewise, by preparing for my summer painting show season, even though so much remains unknown at this time. 

Here is what I do know.  My upcoming solo show at Landing Gallery in Rockland will happen either in the gallery itself, or virtually.  I have 55 paintings framed and ready for At Sea: new paintings of the Maine coast, and will have the catalogue in hand in a few weeks, if all goes well.  A few paintings from the show are already spoken for (wow, thank you!!), but the majority remain available.  If you would like a preview, just ask, and I will be happy to send you a file of photographs of the paintings, and the price list.  The gallery will have the paintings in mid-May or shortly thereafter, if the Maine stay-safe-at-home order is lifted by then.  

Also, as I mentioned previously, Littlefield Gallery now has paintings of mine, for inclusion in a group show in late June and July.  Again, several paintings have already sold (and again, wow, thank you!!), but many are shown on their website on my artist page, and are currently available.  They will probably have a virtual show only, but that is still to be determined, depending on how the state safety recommendations develop.  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I've been adding some new paintings to this old website of mine.  Over the past two years I've spent a lot of time far inland, away from the coast for a change.  Ryan and I bought a piece of land in Monson and hope to build a camp in the future.  It has been a delight to discover remote parts of Maine I've never seen before.  We've hiked all over, and driven dirt roads for miles.  I keep returning to certain places, as I do here at the coast, to paint and paint again as the seasons change.  I've put some of this new work in its own section, inland, here.  I hope to continue to add to it over the coming years.  Being outside, either in the woods, at the ocean's edge, or right here in our backyard, is the primary thing that brings me peace during this difficult period in history.  I say history, because it sure feels historic, doesn't it?  As if we reached a major turning point, and actually did make the turn, into a new way of living, a new era.  What is most important has become glaringly obvious and the superfluous has fallen away.  I must say that I do yearn for frivolous treats from time to time, but even my definition of those has drastically changed, along with everything else.  Art remains necessary, I hope and believe.  The paintings we live with in our home, many made by dear friends and acquaintances, bring such joy, daily.  So does good food, and visiting with neighbors in the street on our daily walks, and speaking with friends and family on the phone.

I'll end this with one of the paintings from the Landing Gallery show:  morning clouds over Isle au Haut and Hutchins Island, from Islesboro, Maine - oil/panel, 11 x 14", 2019.  Made last September, in love with the world, with good friends painting nearby, on one of the islands visible down the bay from here.  I hope to return this September and paint there again.  Stay safe, and thanks for reading.

Me again, with two more pieces of good news to report.

First, I am very happy to say that Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor, Maine will be showing some of my paintings during their 2020 season.  More details on that soon.  For now, here is my information page on their website.  Thanks Jane and Kelly Littlefield, for visiting and for adding me to your gallery roster!

Second, the conservation organization Maine Coast Heritage Trust is turning fifty this year.  Thanks to their efforts, special places all over the coast are preserved, protected forever for seabirds and other wildlife, and in many cases opened to the public.  MCHT has just published a 50th anniversary anthology called Voices from the Coast, which contains essays, poetry, and art.  Some of the content is available online.  For the print version the editors selected one of my paintings for the cover, and I am so thrilled.  The book will be mailed out to members, donors, and other interested parties in the coming weeks.  Thank you, editors Alix Hopkins and Sophie Nelson, and Maine Coast Heritage Trust!

More in the spring.  I am starting to work on framing paintings for Landing Gallery, and my solo show there in May-June of 2020.  Lots to do, and thankfully, lots of time to do it in.