Rachel Smith Maher ~ Artist and Poet

Five years ago a young mother passed away from a terrible blood cancer.   Her friends and neighbors loved her so much they wanted to honor her memory in some quiet way.   They approached her widower to inquire about how best to accomplish their mission and ask his blessing.     He recalled how compassionate the nurses and staff at the hospital had been toward him and his 6 year old son.   “Something that reminds them of Liesel, her journey, and how they helped us through” was his best suggestion.   “Maybe a painting to hang at the hospital that was Liesel’s ‘home’ for so many months”, he offered.    The neighbors went away puzzled, as they were not personally familiar with any artists, nor did they think they could raise the funds to purchase such a memorial.   However, they prayed, and trusted that if it was meant to be, it would come about.   And it did.   The daughter of one of the neighbors had a friend who was just getting sta...

"Sunflower Dawn"~~framed with gold metal and white mat,  11"x14" $180 "Sunflower I" ~~ matted, unframed, ready for 11"x14" frame $135 Sunflowers have inspired me lately...as they do every fall.  Attempting to capture the fluidity and flexibility of the petals this year.  Still a work in progress, but my creative spirit is engaged and working!  Going with the flow...reducing expectations...breathing in and out...simple things, but they make the days just a bit easier.  

Someone once said, "When you're pressed, what's inside comes out".  I see this evidenced in my life.  I have been pressed on every side this summer...beyond what anyone should need to bear...and here's what emerges from my soul:  This painting is a result of showing up at my easel, putting brush to paper without prior conceptualization or thought, and seeing what happens.  What comes out.  The painting is meant to be open to interpretation...every viewer brings to the event their own feelings, imagination, eyes.  I see storm clouds...but they're moving.  I see rough seas becoming calm as they reach the shore.  I see land, dark and distant, but an opening--a cove--for safe approach.  I see reflections...mirrors to the moment. I see light...bright and glowing light...that remains constant despite the storm's attempt to obscure and cover.  That's what is inside me...an ever present knowing that Light is within reach, just beyond the darknes...

I went for a walk in my painting, 4 years after painting it.  And something miraculous happened.  Let me tell you the story... The painting, "Megan Jill", is a commissioned piece from 2009.  It was to depict not only the boat, whose namesake would be the recipient of the artwork, but also the quaint Maine village of Friendship Harbor.  Several of the wharves and buildings were owned by the same family as the lobster boat.  I took on the project, using a photograph as a reference, as I had never been to Friendship, Maine.   Fast forward to 2013...while on an trip up the coast of Maine, my friend suggested we visit the coastline north of Damariscotta.  We headed toward Friendship Harbor and I became excited to see it firsthand!  As we drove down the narrow, curved pavement (upper right portion of the painting) and onto the wharf and I felt like I was back in time.  Back to the days when I was sketching and painting the piece.  I recognized...

If we fail to pause, even for a moment, to bear witness to nature, why are we here?  Beyond cars and concrete and cappuccinos is a world that quietly marks the passing of time through light and tracks and new birth...melting snow, green buds, singing birds.  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven.  This painting is of a large pine tree that sits on the edge of our property line.  I look out upon it as I sip my morning coffee.  And in certain seasons, the morning light illuminates the base of the trunk and lower branches.  It has always captured my attention--enchanting me with thoughts of  how light can make its way through a thicket to warm up the snowy forest floor.  Today, as I was silently watching through my window, a deer made its way behind the tree and rested just to the right of the trunk, nestled in the snow, taking a moment to her self.  Made me wonder if she would farrow early and bring forth an...

Twelve Noon on New Year's Day.  Happy 2014!  I absolutely love New Year's Day...its a new beginning, a fresh start.  Its a chance to grow, learn, change, appreciate, and love...just a little bit better, a little bit more, than the year before.  Building upon all that I learned, I journey forward into this budding pathway.  I have some new things I want to try, some new thoughts I want to think.  Join me in this voyage we call life...the adventure of a brand new year!   AND, as is tradition at Dragonfly Arts, the first painting of the year ("Comes the Dawn" pictured above) is given to the first person who asks for it...free!  (This one is painted on aquaboard and is 5"x7") My email is dragonflyartsofmaine@yahoo.com 

Dan Fogelberg's most famous Christmas song is Auld Lang Syne, of course.  "Saw an old lover in the grocery store...la da da da Christmas Eve..."  But he breathes new life into this 19th Century Christmas hymn and it has become one of my all time favorites.  You can find it on his "The First Christmas Morning" CD--highly recommended--as a collection of beautifully written or resurrected pieces that point to Christ, the whole reason for Christmas.  Enjoy!  In the Bleak Mid-Winter In the bleak mid-winter, the frosty wind did moan The earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone Snow had fallen softly, snow on snow on snow In the bleak mid-winter, oh so long ago Our God, heaven cannot hold Him nor the earth sustain Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign In the bleak mid-winter a stable place sufficed For the Lord almighty, Jesus Christ Oh what can I give Him, woeful as I am If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb If I were a wiseman, oh I would d...