"Not Your Grandmother's Watercolors" features the paintings of four New England artists who paint together in Maine every summer.  Each artist has a distinctive style, using vibrant colors to produce non-traditional watercolors.

Terri Brooks of Freedom, N.H. is both a landscape and figure painter and executes her figures and landscapes in primarily transparent colors. She works with varying amounts of water, transparency being very important in creating the atmospheric effects that she portrays so well.  She says "I am intrigued by the qualities of light and atmospheric conditions and their effect on the subject….I also like the interactions among groups of figures whether it be an intimate grouping or a large crowd."  Terri is a member of the Washington Valley Arts Association and the Sharon Arts center.

Bill Childs of Exeter, N.H. paints full time and is well known for his landscapes awash in light.  He interacts with the image as it evolves and is willing to use color for its own sake.  He best known as a watercolorist with a strength in drawing and an interest in architectural topics and landscape, although his more recent work is more concerned with color than subject.  Bill is a member of the New Hampshire Art Association and the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.

Janet Duncan from Dover, MA likes to simplify her subject material into bold, mainly geometric shapes. She paints the clean, bright light of Maine in the summer months and chooses to represent the simple life that characterizes the Maine coast.  Janet has shown her works in a variety of shows in the MetroWest area.  She states "landscape has inspired much of my work so far and I have studied it from many points of view… I no longer see the landscape in the realist tradition and use color to express my reactions to both urban and rural scenes."  Janet is a member of the New England Watercolor society.

Frankie Brackley Tolman, an artist from Nelson N.H., uses simple shapes and unexpected color to celebrate the people and places of New England.   Shape and area dominate her paintings which are bold and often semi-abstract   She states that "my inspiration primarily comes from the landscapes and rural architecture of northern New England.  The subjects of my paintings are reduced to simplified shapes that provide clues to their history and our ties to them."  Frankie is a member of the New England Watercolor Society.
  
Everyone is welcome at a reception for the artists on Sunday, October 7, 2001 from 1 to 3 PM in the TCAN Gallery at 31 Main Street, Natick.  Refreshments will be served.  Directions to TCAN, Gallery hours and performance information are available by calling 508-647-0097 or at www.natickarts.org.  The art is in the same venue as the performances and can also be enjoyed while attending these events.