Picture perfect is the only way to describe the days of the 2025 Windjammer Days Artists' Alley June 26 and 27. And, thanks to the variety of artists and artisans attending, there were temptations for everyone … and, from what I observed, many succumbed!

As I walked down to Whale Park my breath caught at the sight of of the Privateer Lynx and the Pinnace Virginia anchored side by side at the Town Landing. What a perfect location for these two vessels; they surely added a splash of historical artistry and elegance to this popular event. The crews aboard both ships led tours each day donned in period dress, of course. And who would have thought I would meet Virginia’s captain, JB Smith, at artist Don Demers’ live demo?

Don has been painting for six, count ‘em, six decades. He was about 8 years old when he first fell in love with sailing vessels. Before that, like other kids his age, Don was drawing tanks, planes and "stuff blowing up."

“Nobody in the family sailed or anything like that. I just became fascinated with the way they looked, the aesthetic of them, the way they move, the fact that they were these wooden machines using the wind, it was just all enchanting to me, right?”

Enchanting, indeed. There’s nothing like being out on the water and leaving daily life behind, is there? Sailing aboard these historic windjammers, and reproductions like the Virginia and Lynx, you’re also transported back in time. For artists with a passion for painting such vessels, like Don, a lot of study is involved to accurately bring them to life on canvas.

“Coming here gave me a chance to focus my interest in drawing and painting on a subject matter that just fascinated me. The more I studied it, the more enthralled I became. And fortunately, to some degree, because of my studious efforts as a kid, I learned a lot about these boats and then finally got to go to sea on the Sherman Zwicker. And just a short time after that, I went to sea with JB and I worked with him on and off.”

From his experiences, Don gained an understanding about how their mechanical parts worked. For him, it’s all about authenticity, and his biggest challenge has always been the mechanics of these glorious ships.

“The only way I could get up and over that was not from having my nose stuck in books, but to actually get on them. (On board) I'd sketch along the way and document small details.”

I asked him if what he experienced inside on those sailing adventures extended to his paintings – and how. He said, “Yes! It informs it tremendously. It imbues it with spirit, right? (laughing again he added gesturing at the painting completed, yes completed during his demo) … There's a lot of nausea in that painting...So you get off of after a tough sailing trip, you say, I'm never getting on a damn boat again as long as I live. And then two days go by (and) you're looking for the next boat to get on, right? There's nothing like it. Yeah, there's nothing like it. I didn't want to be a fake. So that's been my pursuit.”

There’s a photo in the gallery on the Register website of Don and his demo painting … talk about details: There are crew members aboard, to scale, of course!

Capt. JB Smith has captained many ships before the Virginia, including Harvey Gamage, Westward, and Unicorn – the ship he sailed to Boothbay Harbor for Windjammer Days in the ‘70s.

Capt. Smith noted of Maine’s First Ship Virginia, “The orginal was the first vessel built in the New World that sailed to the Old World (England) taking some of the people who sailed here back to England after 18 months. It was just too hard.”

Each year I visit with different vendors to find out what led them onto their artisan or artist’s path. This year I spent some time at Periwinkle Designs. After introducing myself, the owner responded, “I’m Linda Partridge (like the Partridge Family).” So, guess what song immediately started playing in my head … seems every kid I babysat for watched it, which meant I did. So the kids and I all “got happy.” 

Periwinkle Designs is a family business established in 1990, but its origins date back to Linda’s childhood and a grandmother who shared her love of beachcombing and so began Linda’s love of “finding things in nature.”

There was always a small crowd at her booth of floral bouquets, ornaments and wreaths, pine trees of various heights with starfish toppers, mussel shell insides adorned with painted holiday designs or signal flags, and more are all made of mussel shells.

But OMG those floral arrangements and how did she go from beachcomber to artisan?

She attributes it all to her late mom and friends who would experiment making wreaths of mussel shells. Once perfected, Linda’s mom taught her how to do it. Linda continued using mussel shells as both medium and canvas and has passed the tradition on to her two daughters and two granddaughters. As a family, they designed and built, really, all of the “seasonal” decorations under that tent at Artists Alley.

“Yeah, this is a family booth. We all make the things that are in here, and we do most of the shell collecting ourselves. I get some things in Florida. Everybody asks if we eat a lot of mussels, but the mussels you eat are mostly farm-raised with thinner shells, they’re all about the same size and they might break. I need large ones and smaller ones. So, I get the shells the girls eat and shells left on the beach here and in Connecticut and Rhode Island and in Massachusetts where we live.”

There was always a small crowd at Periwinkle Designs, and those gorgeous floral arrangements. I was tempted to buy one, but instead chose one of the smaller mussel shell wreaths adorned with a starfish.

Sari Rae, who we here in the Boothbay region all know as Sari Weiss, was back with her lovely sterling and gemstone jewelry. And this year she was toting her 8-month-old daughter with her. Since Simone came along she’s been juggling motherhood with creating jewelery, emphasis on the former.

The creatives on the scene, thanks to FWJD volunteer Janet Brennan, were: Chris Cambridge - The Scrimshaw Workshop;  Amy Partridge - Periwinkle Designs (shell art); Eric Darling - fine art and up cycled drift rope; Courtney Hutchings - Sea Salt and Silver jewelry; Marianne Janik - Cali B jewelry;  Derek Keenan - Hill and Shore Woodwork;  Laura Kowacki - Lone Pine Design; Rick Lang - artist;  Susan Lipman - sea glass;  George Mattingly - fine art; Richard Picard - wood bowls; Sari Rae - jewelry; Nancy Shaul - Westport Island Pottery, and Herenya Wilkey - stained glass. 

Artist demonstrations, in addition to Don Demers', were by Olena Babak, Kathleen Baribeau, Leonard Mizerek, Charlotte Thibault, Rick Reinert and John Seitzer.