Claudette Gamache is an artist and teacher who lives at Popham Beach, Phippsburg, Maine. An artist most of her life, she has worked with oils, watercolors and painting on silk. She began using pastels twenty years ago and now primarily paints in this medium. Her interest is nature, experimenting with color and light and creating scenes that invite the viewer into her paintings. At this time, she is captured with the Maine Coast Landscape/Seascape. Her background includes working as a Registered Nurse, and Registered Art Therapist with children and adults in medical, educational and hospice settings. She finds the arts to be multi-dimensional. Through the arts, she encourages individual self-expression in the creative journey. Her goal is to encourage inner development as well as painting skills. Through her experiences she incorporates techniques as avenues to tapping the creative spirit within herself and others. Claudette received a B.F.A. from the University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT and an M.A. from Lesley College, Cambridge, MA. She has taught pastel painting at Heartwood College of Art, Kennebunk, Maine. She teaches classes and conducts 1-3 day workshops in Maine and will do her second 7 day workshop at Haut Baran in southwestern France this coming October. She is a mentor for the Low Residency MFA Program at the Heartwood College of Art. She is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America, the Pastel Painters of Maine and Master Circle member of the International Association of Pastel Societies. She is represented in galleries in Maine and New Hampshire and the recipient of numerous awards. Her paintings, which number well over 500, hang in many corporate and private collections. In addition, she participates in highly selective juried art shows throughout the country. Claudette is published in How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint Landscapes, published in 2004, International Artist Publishing, and sold in book stores. Her painting "Early Morning Sky over the Kennebec" was chosen to be on the cover of the Midcoast Visitors Guide 2004. She is in Marquis Who’s Who in American Women. The Pine Tree Society selected her painting for their holiday card in 2006. She has shown in two juried shows at the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, The Ventana Art Gallery, Santa Fe NM, Brea Art Galley, Brea, CA. She is president of the Pastel Painters of Maine. "I am drawn to capture the essence of nature. The light at certain times of the day, the unexpected changes that occur when paying attention at a certain moment. These places feed my soul" - Claudette Gamache