Here Comes Summer

Capturing beauty of the garden in oil paint

BY SUSAN LAUGHLIN

Elouise Lane Quadros of Nashua is very happy that painting flowers is now her full-time passion. Sure, she has a degree in fine art, and loved drawing as a kid, but the road to this destination was not direct.

Quadros started teaching art to a few neighborhood kids, and it soon developed into a full-time booming business. She even had a waiting list. For 25 years she taught drawing and painting to the young and old.

One day, a few years ago, she walked into an antique shop in Amherst and discovered a clutch of artists working in the garret upstairs. She said to herself, “This is what I want to do.” Since then, she has dedicated her time, five to seven days a week, to painting at that studio, Gallery 46. It’s a shared space filled with great light and room for several artists to commune and comment on each other’s work.

Quadros paints in oil, starting with a medium tone for a background, and then quickly puts in lights and darks to find the contrast she is looking for. “I love the drama of high contrast and deep colors,” she says. She uses subtle blending and many layers of thin paint to build her final realistic images that shimmer with a wondrous translucence. She manages to capture that rare moment when the light is just perfect.

Teaching was rewarding for Quadros, but she is happier now pursuing her own painting career. “Being the best I can, by painting every day and doing what I was meant to do — this is satisfaction,” she says, and that really says it all.

Quadros’ work can be found at Gallery 46 and the Northlight Gallery in Kennebunkport, Maine. Or follow her work via Gallery 46 on Facebook.

Find It

Gallery 46

46 Route 101A, Amherst

elquadrosart@aol.com

Northlight Gallery

Kennebunkport, Maine

northlightgalleryofmaine.com

Usually opens on Memorial Day

Prices range from $360 to $1,800. Galleries may or may not be open due to COVID-19.