anerican watercolor artist P A G may march 1996 Establishing Your Own Gallery by Wini Smart Most artists dream of pink granite boulders line the tal decision. When my husband left shores; tall, dark spruce accent the the island to return to his job in New being able to paint full-time curve of the hills; and deep blue Jersey, the reality of what we'd done mountains give dimension to the hit hard. But I was young and had while simultaneously achiev- landscape. There are picturesque the faith and determination to make fishing villages, harbors filled with my dream come true. ing financial success, and beautiful sailboats and yachts, and The children all cooperated, and grand cottages placed along peace- we soon had the shop as clean as a I've discovered a way to do it: I oper- ful roads. whistle and decorated with old nets, ate two galleries that feature my I knew that while my work would driftwood, and shells. My watercol- own work. For me, it all started thir- probably never have much interest ors were matted and hung attractive- ty years ago while I was raising four for ultrasophisticated urbanites, it ly along the nets, and Smart Studio children and actively painting and would appeal to the nature lovers was in business. That summer we teaching art in New Jersey. As our and more traditional sportsmen who were only open in the morning. My area became increasingly urbanized, frequent Mount Desert, so I found afternoons were spent taking the it was more and more difficult to an empty shop to rent for the sum- children on jaunts to places where find subject matter for my outdoor mer in the island town of Northeast they could safely play and fish while landscapes. I began to dream fre- Harbor. After a lot of soul-searching I painted. Not content to render the quently of Maine, a state I'd visited and sleepless nights, we bought a lit- simple seascapes that seemed so as a child. In the summer of 1966, tle houseboat to live on since we commonplace, I concentrated on when our family went camping couldn't afford to rent both a house what fascinated me: the interaction there, I fell completely in love with and a shop. Since we had four chil- between sea and shore, the battle Mount Desert, a large island harbor- dren, the youngest of whom was between humans and nature, the ing a beautiful national park. Great three years old, it was a monumen- bleak drama of the outer islands, 803 42 AMERICAN ARTIST