Artist's Statement: Our summer home is on Southport Island on the coast of Maine, and the paintings in this exhibition were inspired by the natural wonders of this island, and the sea. I have tried to give you a new way of looking at some of these familiar subjects.

Sometimes I catch an idea and can hold it in my mind long enough to put down on paper, at other times a busy lifestyle interferes and the idea fades and goes on the heap of half forgotten images---to be resurrected at another time. But no matter, this partially retained storehouse of images can be the beginning of new ideas, and they evolve through drawing, painting and experimenting. When referring to his painting, Picasso noted that if you know exactly what you are going to do and know exactly how to do it, then why bother to do it at all.

There is a sense of excitement when beginning a new watercolor. Paint flows freely into dampened paper, then can be added to and layered, creating rich depths of color. Painting with water based media, especially with many of the new products on the market today, provides me with an infinite number of ways to express my ideas and images.

Artist's Bio: Mary Jo is a graduate of Skidmore College where she majored in art and science. In subsequent years she has studied painting at DeCordove museum and has taken workshops with many highly trained and innovative instructors from across the country. She taught "Techniques of Watercolor" from 1970 to 1995, and conducted the" Deep Cove Workshops" from her studio on Southport Island, Maine. She has traveled throughout the world capturing images of other cultures and has escorted painting safaris in Kenya in 1986, and Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Her work is carried by the "State of the Art" gallery in Jackson, New Hampshire, and the" June Weare" gallery in Ogunquit, Maine. She shows regularly with the New England Watercolor Society and at the Copley Society in Boston. Mary Jo’s paintings have earned over 40 awards, including the Gold Medal of Honor from the New England Watercolor Society.

If you would like to learn more about these paintings, please call the artist at 781-893-5582

I hope that a brief immersion in these images drawn from nature might offer a soothing contrast to our past week of horror and fear. September 16th 2001. -- Mary Jo