Welcome to this web gallery of my original artwork.  Inspired by the rugged beauty of coastal Maine, I create land and seascape oil paintings and soft pastel paintings.  Each medium has its own appeal.  With oil painting, the process of mixing, layering, and glazing hues of different values and temperatures is engaging and rhythmic.  Soft pastel is a medium of particular vibrancy and immediacy.  Almost pure pigment with minimal binder, pastel painting gives artwork a richness of color and stroke that is both characteristic and striking.  By their shape and concentration of pigment, pastel sticks may be used in a linear or painterly manner, or some combination of the two.  Preparing my own surfaces for pastel painting gives me the freedom to vary the texture and tone of the ground.  I often combine media, such as using acrylic or watercolor as an underpainting for a soft pastel work or experimenting with gold metal leaf in combination with oil or soft pastel. 

I am also exploring another artistic interest, that of jewelry design.  I make one of a kind necklaces and earrings with silver, other metals, minerals, beads, crystals, and found objects.  As in my oil and pastel painting practice, each piece is inspired by a palette of nature's hues, shapes, and shades.  I hope  you will visit the Jewelry Gallery on this site.

To see my work, please visit one of these listed galleries or a show I am in.  I hope that at least one of my oil or pastel paintings will stir a memory or your emotions. 

Online purchases made by made by check or credit card (via Square Inc.) and shipping can be arranged.

Paintings -  Mast Cove Galleries, Pemaquid Art Gallery, Tidemark Gallery

Jewelry - Kefauver Gallery, Summer Island Studio Gallery, Tidemark Gallery

Current and Upcoming Shows

"Monhegan Perspectives V"

Salt Exchange Restaurant and Gallery

June - August 2014

with

Joyce Greenfield, Betty Heselton,

 Sally Loughridge, and Marlene Loznicka

Each fall we spend two weeks living and painting on Monhegan Island,

ten miles off the coast of Maine.  Curated by kdb-Karen Dominguez, this

is our fifth exhibit of works inspired by our stays.

Here are several of my paintings in the show (click to enlarge).

"Painting Maine V"

annual small group show

Damariscotta River Grill

July 21 - September 14, 2014

with

Ellen Hutcheson, Barbara Klein, Sally Loughridge, and Bob Vaughan

Here are several of my paintings in the show (click to enlarge).

"Horizons"

Book

Rad Art: A Journey Through Radiation Treatment

Published by the American Cancer Society 2012

When I had breast cancer in 2010, painting helped me endure and heal emotionally.  During the time between my diagnosis and the start of radiation, I experienced a rush of powerful emotions,  which I could not always name.  By creating a small painting every day after my treatment, I hoped I would find solace, distraction, and release.  Each five-by-seven-inch spontaneous painting was made in twenty minutes or less. I did not want to think too much. The paintings themselves were not intended to be art per se; rather, the process of creating them was the critical element in my coping strategy.  This sequence of thirty-three paintings, together with corresponding log entries has become a book, published by the American Cancer Society.  The book is available through many distributors online including  http://www.cancer.org/cancer/bookstore/index, and www.amazon.com. To see a podcast interviewing me about the book, go to: http://pressroom.cancer.org/.

* Winner of the Gold Medal in the Book Category at the 2012 Association TRENDS All Media Contest, sponsored by Association  

  TRENDS, a division of Columbia Books

* Named one of four finalists in the Women's Issues Category of the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards by the

  Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group 

* 2013 USA Best Books Awards: WINNER: Women's Issues and FINALIST: Health - Cancer

Cancer Savvy Blog/MaineHealth

At the invitation of MaineHealth's Learning Resource Center, I have written a related short piece for their Cancer

Savvy blog (4/10/14), which is posted under "survivor stories" here: http://cancersavvy.mainehealthcancer.org 

Audio Podcast - The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour

from 6/30/13, available through iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dr.-lisa-belisle/id470883241

If you or a loved one has cancer, there is a lot of information on this show about client

services and resources from the American Cancer Society.  In the second portion of

the show, I am interviewed about my book, Rad Art, as an example of using creativity

to help navigate the cancer journey.

Prints

These painting images are available as limited edition fine art prints through the " Giclée Prints" page.

Teaching

Future soft pastel class and workshop offerings will be posted here.

Into Summer. . .

For many more images, please click buttons on navigation bar at top.