New paintings by Wini Smart will be shown at the Northeast Harbor Library through the month of July 2014. The artist is showing her renditions of the beauty of Maine. Wildflowers, seascapes, shady forests, local gardens and ponds all appeal to the artist’s eye. “Lily Pond Reflections” is a large oil painting of a pond at her studio home on Great Cranberry Island.
Wini has always admired the work of Claude Monet and has painted at his wonderful gardens at Giverney, France several times. “But, I wanted my own lily pond, so a local lobster man dug it years ago with his backhoe. Now I actually have three small ponds. We have to continually cut back the pond lilies or they would completely cover the water. We have lots of frogs- good mosquito control,” said the artist.
Wini Smart had first come to Maine as a child , staying with her aunt who had a house in Rockport. In the 1960s she and her family summered in this area and she opened the Smart Studio in 1967. Her children all pitched in with chores allowing the artist time to work. “We just had the gallery open mornings at first and the children and I would visit a safe place for them to play while I painted small watercolors. People loved those little painting and the gallery proved a success.”
Her daughter, Gail Cleveland, and son-in-law Terry Waite have taken over the business, now in its 47th year. Wini remarked “I have more time to paint now though I miss seeing all the nice people; I used to know everyone in Northeast Harbor back then.”
