Jimmies, Poms, mothers, daughters and a Wiscasset Art Walk first

Event draws artists from as far as New Hampshire, Port Clyde; first walk with bigger sidewalks on Main
Fri, 08/30/2019 - 8:45am

    “I figured, well, everybody (paints) Red’s Eats, so I would paint what’s next to it,” around the bakery Creamed, Port Clyde watercolor artist Kathleen A. Fox said on the corner of Wiscasset’s Main and Water streets opposite both businesses Thursday night. The plein air work underway on the Maine Art Gallery member’s lap might go into that Warren Street, Wiscasset gallery’s plein air show, she said.

    Other painters interviewed around Main Street at the Aug. 29 Wiscasset Art Walk were also working on possible entries to the show that was set to conclude Aug. 31. Northport’s Ian Bruce was capturing Water Street; Ashland, New Hampshire’s Jessica Fligg, Red’s Eats.

    Fligg’s oil painting was postcard sized. She also paints larger, but has found an advantage to small for plein air painting: “You can catch it all before the (scene’s) light changes. I could do that with a bigger painting, but I would need bigger brushes,” she said, smiling.

    Near some of the artists and other participants with something to share, sell, or both were the orange and white barrels and cones familiar to locals and Route 1 commuters as work continues on the state’s downtown project. Contractor Pike Industries’ project manager Wayne Blais and Maine Department of Transportation’s project resident Rob Clewley looked on before the night’s work began after the art walk. They said people appeared to be getting around well on the wider sidewalks and the work still to come would make the walking even better.

    Interviewed separately about two thirds through the three-hour event, organizer Lucia Droby was also liking what she was seeing. She said this was the first art walk with the wider sidewalks; that meant more room for tables and the artists, and for attendees to gather in groups, she observed.

    According to Droby, the wider sidewalks widen the art walk’s options. She has already been in touch with dance and other groups who would now have the space to perform. She is looking to start adding those groups next year.

    Woolwich’s Jan Thorpe had been wanting all season to check out the monthly art walk but never made it, until Thursday night’s installment. She put it on her calendar and was determined, she said inside Sylvan Gallery on Water Street after talking with owner Ann Scanlan and enjoying a brownie there.

    What did she think of what she was seeing so far? “It’s lovely. I’m realizing there’s much more around here than I knew. I had only passed through.” As she spoke, Brunswick’s Jonathan Waldo sat finishing Cesare Negri’s “Bianco fiore” on the classical guitar he built about 40 years ago.

    Out on Main, Wiscasset’s Lisa Truesdell, flute in hand, and daughter Julia, 13, carrying a clarinet, headed to their next spot, outside Sarah’s Cafe. It was the duo’s first Wiscasset Art Walk appearance, the Wiscasset mother said. Then son Miles, 5, ran up and showed her his ice cream cone from Creamed. “Mom, ice cream with chocolate jimmies!”

    Lisa Fourre’s Pomeranians Tye and Aiden were popular as the Wiscasset woman shared materials with event-goers about her work writing copy for causes. Fellow Wiscasset resident Jean Beattie Flynn and husband David Flynn got down on the new sidewalk to pat and speak with the dogs.

    The last art walk of the season is 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 26.