Richard Boyd Art Gallery opens August with a group exhibition of original paintings in a range of styles from traditional realism to pointillism created by a group of nationally and internationally renowned visual artists with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and styles.

The exhibit is comprised of a magnificent selection of paintings that offer viewers a visual narrative of feelings expressed in color, depth, and texture. From the calming beauty of a foggy landscape to the immersive experience of a surrealistic dreamscape, art takes viewers on a personal journey of exploration. Art is an international language we all understand, offering viewers adventure and discovery.

The exhibition is a showcase of original paintings created from the soul of the artist. Each painting is a well rendered expression of emotion, passion, and feelings. Selected paintings include works by Deena S. Ball – contemporary watercolors, C.R. Bryant – maritime oils, Patricia Chandler – contemporary oil and cold wax, Richard H. Eyster - dry-brush watercolors, Jane Herbert – acrylic, and HM Saffer II – pointillist style oils.

Stop in and see this great exhibition open free of charge from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily from August 1st through August 29th, 2024. 

About The Artists

Jane Herbert

A year-round resident of Damariscotta, Maine Jane Herbert’s exquisitely detailed traditional style paintings are a visual expression of life along the coast and reveal observations of the picturesque landscape and seaside charm of Maine’s coastal communities. 

A gifted fine and commercial artist, Jane’s paintings capture the ever-changing colors, life, and mood of coastal Maine. Her unstructured approach to art and life has served her well. “Instead of earning a formal education I gathered my paint brushes and toured Europe in a micro-bus, painting and learning as I went. 

Through the years, I’ve been inspired by the beauty I find in nature.  Recently I have taken a wider view of the landscape and the strong and reassuring sense of unity I feel in it.  I want to draw people into that kind of healing space.”

Jane’s beautifully rendered landscape paintings are widely collected and held in numerous private and public collections. 

Deena S. Ball

Deena S. Ball is a nationally renowned landscape painter, known for her innovative use of watercolors in combination with textured ground and specialized surfaces. She holds a BA in Art History and Studio Art from Colby College in Waterville, Maine and continued her studies at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and Tyler School of Art.

A student of nature, she creates paintings to help others see, respect, and conserve the beauty of our natural world with her love of nature, science, and art coming together when she paints en Plein Air. Deena strives to create simple expressive paintings inspired by nature depicting scenes from the interior mountains to the coast of Maine which capture a moment in time and strike an emotional chord with the viewer.

An active teaching artist for both adults and children, she is regularly invited to conduct workshops and presentations for artist’s organizations. Recent presentations include ones for the Philadelphia Watercolor Society, Onodaga Art Society and Salem County Art Society. She teaches workshops and classes on zoom for art organizations across the nation including RiverArts in Maryland, Mendocino Art Center in California, Community Art Center and Wayne Art Center in Pennsylvania, and Artascope in Maine.

Deena is a past president of the Philadelphia Water Color Society, co-founder and Artistic Director of the non-profit LandArt Events, a signature member of Philadelphia Watercolor Society, Baltimore Watercolor Society, PennsylvaniaWatercolor Society, and is a Pennsylvania Guild Master Craftsman. Her paintings are exhibited throughout the Northeast and can be found in Watercolor Artist, several annual publications of Splash, and most recently En Plein.

C. R. Bryant

Internationally renowned Maine artist C. R. (Bob) Bryant created Maritime art for more than 60 years. Born in the eye of a hurricane in Central Florida, he created his first painting at age five.  Later, as a member of the Palm Beach Museum of Art he painted on site copying, reproducing, and learning from the masters. Following his service in Southeast Asia, his understanding and appreciation of visual arts was enriched while living in Europe and devoting considerable time in the world’s great art museums, living and painting in the footsteps of the old masters.

Working primarily with oils using techniques of the old masters learned over years of study, he became a master of realism.  Well known for his ability to paint water he had a working knowledge of sailing ships and is recognized as a leading international marine artist.

Relocating to the Pacific Northwest in 1988, his focus centered on preserving the rich Marine history of Puget Sound and his passion for classic sailing yachts. A key aspect of his work involved the human figure, seldom included in maritime paintings but frequently the subject of his work. Many of his paintings, specifically yachts, are portraits of crew and owners. His love for the sea evolved through his considerable sailing experiences, and he never strayed far from the water. Bob moved to the East coast and continued to create maritime paintings from his studio in Cape Neddick, Maine until his passing in November of 2023.

He was a member of The Copley Society of Art Boston, The Copley Society Portrait Registry, The Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters, The Maritime Gallery Mystic Seaport Greenwich Connecticut, The International Marine Artists, associate member The Salmagundi Club New York City, and Co-Founder of PRIMA the Pacific Rim Institute of Marine Art.

Fifteen of Bob's paintings are in the permanent collection of COGAP - United States Coast Guard Art Program, and his paintings are in maritime museums, and part of permanent collections held by national and international corporations, and in private collections in Europe, Asia, the West Indies, and the Americas.

Patricia Chandler

Nationally renowned Maine artist, retired educator, and illustrator Patricia Chandler’s career as a commercial and fine artist spans six plus decades. She earned a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island and MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

After several years of working in the commercial field creating illustrations she moved to Minnesota, where she renewed her interest in printmaking and painting at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, moving back to Maine in 1971, later becoming an Adjunct Professor of Painting and Drawing at the University of Maine from 2005 to 2014.

Pat’s creative process and production inevitably refer to her geographic roots. “Maine’s more remote regions inspired much of my artwork to the same degree that its landscapes informed my early life. Ever since I can remember, the trees and woods, mountains, lakes, and fields of Maine have been where my mental, physical, and emotional balance could be restored.

The influence of those sensual memories emerges strongly when I work in the studio. My work includesrealistic paintings that seek to record places and certain senses of space and color in sites more visited in the summer by people from other places. Those are more meditative in practice–exercises. The expressionistic, semi-abstract images touch the feeling associated with those wilderness regions of forest and ocean. The variety of Maine’s natural environment is sufficient for many lifetimes of an artist.”

Pat’s paintings are widely collected and held in numerous private and corporate collections across the US.

Richard H. Eyster

Richard Hannaford Eyster is a widely respected painter who approaches a variety of subjects with the lustrous precision available through dry-brush watercolor.  Because the pigments retain their translucence, it is possible to develop a subtle, almost magical glow by laying down rich layers of color. 

Working with Kolinsky sable brushes and an absolute minimum of water, the pigment dries quickly and deeply on heavy archival French paper, allowing layers of rich luminous color to emerge through the image with sharp defining detail. The finely detailed work invested in each painting often consumes three to five months. 

For his more photorealistic representational nature studies, he is drawn outward toward bountiful, microstudies of nature – craggy, barnacled coastlines, the succulence of a berry bush in high summer, and the quiet decay along a November forest floor.  A single leaf might take a week for the precise layering of color. Whether conveying a leaf on the ground or a shell scape on the ocean floor, the work is built on a deep and evocative power.

Eyster is also irrevocably drawn to a darker, quirkier, and more personal realm.  These paintings are primarily photo-surrealistic, illuminating the most personal explorations in carefully detailed imagery.  There is no ostensible “meaning” to his paintings…the symbolism, if any, is unintentional and, at best, subconscious.  He recognizes that many artists are able to work with a great consistency of subject matter – but has long recognized that he is not one of them.

This latter collection from his Uneasy Truce Studio includes the occasional cockamamie vision – a moose in a plaid suit doing stand-up comedy (“This Deer Walks Into a Bar”), a bawling baby boy being tagged out by a huge adult catcher as he slides into home, and a commuter train made up of nothing but scarlet toasters, transporting slices of bread on their way to work.  This collection is also the source of some of his most deeply unsettling work – portraits of his daughters dead or lost, an imagined view inside the cockpit of the American Airlines plane just before it penetrates the World Trade Center, and a paranoic vision of homeowners arriving on their porches as a mob gathers in the distant darkness. 

His most recent exploration is in the abstract realm of “crazy kaleidoscopic color which is playfully unorthodox, but richly satisfying.”

It is the rare collector of his work that is drawn toward the naturalistic and the far more personal realm.  It is for this reason that he generally channels his work through two very different studios.  Richard's paintings have been shown in the National Arts Club (NY), the American Watercolor Society at the Salmagundi Club (NY), and National Academy of Design (NY).  His paintings are exhibited throughout the Northeast and held in numerous private and public collections. 

HM Saffer II

HM Saffer II is a pointillist artist with a focus on landscapes. His paintings are a combination of Western techniques with those from the Orient, such as sumi-e, and the use of Japanese and Chinese colors creating a unique path towards the visual expression of his personal and emotional views.

A multi-talented visual and performing artist HM graduated from Temple University in 1965, and traveled to Paris, France to enroll in graduate economics courses. While in Paris he performed with many notable French stars including Hugues Autray, Jacques Brel and many other. Later hired by Barclay Records as a producer and he had hit records in 1968 and 1969.

Saffer returned to the United States in 1971 and continued on with his music career at Warner Brothers Productions. He later established HMS Two Music Ltd. and spent his time writing and producing music for films, commercials, recordings, and Broadway productions. HM’s work in the commercial field includes creations for Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Ford Motor Company, and Michelob, among others.

Through this period he continued to paint. In 1981 he began to study the art of Japanese brush painting, Sumi-e. HM traveled to Japan in 1983 to study with Japanese masters and was represented by Galerie Musee and the Artbridge Gallery in Japan, and in Hong Kong by Alisen Gallery and the Kaai Fung Hin Gallery as a resident artist where he enjoyed many successful solo exhibits. HM reentered the United States in 1994 and took residence in Upstate New York where he creates pointillist style paintings.

HM instructed at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, Berkshire Community College, and Columbia-Greene Community College. His works are in galleries across the United States, and in corporate and private collections around the globe.

About Richard Boyd Art Gallery

Richard Boyd Art Gallery is an owner operated fine arts gallery representing a diverse group of nationally renowned and established artists. The gallery exhibits original paintings in a range of styles and mediums, limited edition and unique sculptures, and a select offering of works in clay. Exhibitions change monthly so clients and visitors always discover something new and exciting when visiting the gallery.

The gallery is open year-round. From the first of April through the end of October the gallery is open between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. daily. From the first of November through the end of March the gallery is open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Additional days and times by chance or scheduled by appointment.

For more information contact the gallery by phone at (207)-712-1097, email info@richardboydartgallery.com or visit the gallery’s website at www.richardboydartgallery.com .

For exhibit updates follow the gallery on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardBoydArtGallery and on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/richardboydartgallery9327 .