Humorist. Storyteller. Artist. Actor. Author. Illustrator. Musician. Journalist. Narrator. All of these creative paths have been traveled by Boothbay Harbor’s Tim Sample. And as everyone knows, after 50 years on stages across the U.S., his gigs entertaining from the stage are about to appear in his rear view mirror. His final performance is at the Opera House, right here in Boothbay Harbor, his hometown. Of course, right after we talked about the June 26, sold out show, he mused that his departure from the footlights might be, could be, just a hiatus.

So, what’s the plan? Stages of a different kind, a.k.a., art galleries where he will have his illustrations, cover art, calendar covers, greeting card cover art (yes, greeting card) and who knows what all else will emerge when Tim’s imagination ignites. A large show of such work is on exhibit in the Upstairs Gallery at the Opera House, “The Art & Illustrations of Tim Sample.” The show opened May 16 and runs through June 27. He also has a few pieces in a show at Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset. Folks can see Tim’s work at the Opera House Wednesday – Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and ticket holders to concerts through the 27th will be able to check it out after a stop at the bar, although it’s not a requirement to see Kathy Heaton first – or at all.

I spoke with Tim at the Opera House before the show was hung and the conversation ran the gamut as you’d expect. Many of the pieces are from the 1970s when he was drawing his Maine humor calendars. In ‘76, he was working out of his graphic studio in Portland by day, and playing in rock ‘n roll bands by night. Hey, creative energy cannot be contained.

Tim’s humor calendar didn’t start out as such; initially, he was drawing anthropomorphic animals similar to “a Beatrix Potter style.” But they didn’t sell in any of the few stores carrying them. But it was Nancy at the Paper Patch on Exchange Street who shared some of what customers had said. Tim noted this moment in time was important in his development as artist, businessman and creative.

“Nancy liked them, and all of the other buyers thought they were great, but almost none of them sold. I remember sitting down with Nancy, a sharp businesswoman, who told me the biggest, number one problem with his calendar was small squares, enough to write notes in ... Isn't that funny? That's what I use them for (!), and I thought, OK, so noted. And the paper needed to be firmer, stiffer. Steam from a stove could ruin that baby. Finally, they liked these drawings, but nobody knew who I was; I wasn’t famous enough to have a Tim Sample calendar.”

His new calendar needed a theme and that had to be Maine humor. He enlarged the date squares, printed ‘em on stiffer paper, and the drawings? Each month featured a facet of Maine humor appropriate for each month … New Year's resolutions, shoveling snow, and on it went. This time, all 500 of those calendars were sold.

Onward and upward … A friend suggested Tim should buy a Bristol pad and some micron pens or whatever, and sketch an hour or two every day. So Tim started doing just that, but decided that whatever he drew, it was going to be stream of consciousness drawing ... whatever came out of the pen.

“The results were kind of mind blowing. I drew things I'm not sure I could reproduce today. The draftsmanship is so confident, and the subject matter is just kind of amazing ... I have never been able to understand the difference between spirituality, emotion and intellect. It's all what I call the invisible world; the stuff that goes on inside that sort of determines how you're going to act on the outside, inside stuff. And what I was doing was reconnecting with this sense of wonder, and the pure sense of creative expression that comes with it."

When Cathy Sherrill called Tim about putting up a retrospective art show, “I said Icouldn’t think of anything I would rather do, and to have it up through the period of time I was doing my last show, and like that, and so that's what we ended up doing. I had so much fun because, for whatever reason, I guess just because I'm a pack rat, I have these boxes and crates of manuscripts and drawings of things from way back that I just hang on to.”

See many of them in his show, “The Art and Illustrations of Tim Sample” exhibition. These are classic Tim Sample gems: the sketch and completed cover for“Saturday Night at Moody's Diner”; there’s one in a pharmacy – and not any pharmacy, no, that’s Bob Wheeler behind that counter – you remember Wheeler’s Drug Store, don’t ‘cha? There’s a selection of drawings from his modern period, 2000 to thepresent. Among the latter is a commercial illustration in the June 2025 issue of Down East magazine.

I enjoyed the greeting card covers of humorous vegetables, and the sketch of the artist sitting down to work with all of the ideas and possibilities swimming inside his head; The Mainer calendar covers, and … speaking of those calendars, Tim brought some from his collection for folks to take a look at – and most are for sale; in fact when I went up to see the show last week, I did happen on some red (sold) dots.

Something I really enjoy about Tim’s stand-alone and calendar drawings is their old-timey flavor, say circa 1930s-1950s. Tim’s work is as much an homage to the people of Maine as it is to the past. There’s some comfort to be had from the past in the present.

“I like to think that whether it's my Maine humor calendars, humor books, recordings, television specials, albums, performances ... that something about my work resonates with people about Maine, our culture, and our way of life. I have to give a lot of credit to the state of Maine, in particular, so welcoming of creativity and eccentricity. It attracts people here.”

As will Tim Sample’s exhibition in the Opera House’s Upstairs Gallery now through June 27. Day hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. If you’re going to any of the concerts and/or events at the Opera House, check out Tim’s work before your show.