April showers may bring May flowers, but why wait? Surround yourself with blooms at Boothbay Region Art Foundation’s current exhibition, “Flower Show!” And, surprise, surprise, members of the Boothbay Region Garden Club have created floral arrangements, to complement their favorite florals on the walls – and that’s downstairs and up, mind you.

Sure the greenhouses are opening and there’s planting to be done outside, but what about inside? The paintings, photography, fiber, mixed media, and wood assemblage art would look fabulous adorning a wall in your home.

Take Katie McGreary’s “Wild Flowers II” for example: This painting is not what it seems, if you spend some time inside it. At first glance you see a variety of wildflowers illuminated by moonlight. But, it is so much more; there are flower images within each moonlit bloom. Remember, moonlight reveals what may be hidden! Daisies, black-eyed Susans, buttercups, Queen Anne’s Lace are in plain sight, or are they?

Rachel Robbins’ “Flower Moon.” This artist’s work never fails to enchant me. You cannot miss this painting, if, like me, you look around the gallery, left to right, as you open the inside door. The colors, the moon, two white owls, those luscious flowers and the gold leaf called to me. The stars, two owls on flowering tree branches, the colors, the painting made me feel happy. Calm.

The flowers, ranunculus or large David Austin roses, perhaps, such large and lovely blooms. The branches are highlighted by the white body of a tree, most likely birch, yeah? How lucky are those two owls – I see them as a pair, there’s a bit of brown on the larger one in the forefront (which would make it the female), a match for life. The lovely moonlight shining in the sky with sparkling stars, splashes of gold. It’s a meditation on nature, beauty, mystery, love and magic.

"Cardinal Weed on the Sheepscot" by Janet Percival. I immediately saw myself sitting on the stone structure, perhaps the remains of a house, secret meeting place, some kind of chamber? Or, looking closer, water is dripping from it and on into the Sheepscot River. Sitting on the stone, unmoving, I hear the quiet sound of slow-moving water. The flowered red cardinal juxtaposed with Queen Anne’s Lace against the black unknown within the stone chamber; the green swath of color moving from the left bottom corner, peaceful. Hmmm. It is nightfall. And yet, I can still see trees around me. I turn my gaze skyward, looking toward the moonlight, its rays shining through those trees and shrubs (up in the right corner. This painting is also a meditation on nature, history, and the heartbeat of a forest).

The flowers in this show – paintings and photographs of peonies, roses, lupines, gladiolas, fiber art magnolia, .and then there’s the yellow flower photo mosaic upstairs by Stephen Starensier. Within the flower tiny images of nature – flowers, trees, woods, world cultures, images of women – you’ll recognize the the Art Nouveau-esqe style of Alphonse Mucha women. So, so much within this work. Evening images make up the background, more tiny images. What a painstaking undertaking this must have been! This artist also had a photo mosaic in the winter show entitled, “North, East, South, West.”

While I’m on the photographs – here are but a few that show viewers just how lush flowers are: “Bridal Veil,” by Rob Smith; “Full Glory” (gorgeous and lush peonies) by Michael Hagenbuch. And, I would have sworn Tammy Ricker’s “Windswept” was a photograph – but it is not. Sometimes it can be hard to tell! June Elderkin’s white “Sweet Peas” in full bloom is another guaranteed olfactory visual as is LM Turner’s “A Book, A View, and Lilacs” is a scene of total relaxation made even more perfect by the scent of lilacs. Sometimes art is a real sensu-rama, no?

The youngest artist in “Flower Show,” is Solomon Hickey, he’s 10 or 12 years old, and his “Garden Song” is composed of two horizontal paintings of oil and pastels on paperboard. Turns out, his grandmother is Rachel Robbins, whose “Flower Moon" is also in the show. P.S., Solomon's paintings sold the night of the opening reception!

This Boothbay Region Art Foundation show is running through April 30. The gallery is open Thursday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden." - Frances Hodgson Burnett