LaRochelle pursued this interest with his career as a structural engineer, and now in retirement, is coming at it from a different angle — as a painter.
LaRochelle is one of a handful of artists whose work is on display this month and next at the Ethel M. Weymouth Art Gallery at the Wells Public Library, 1434 Post Road. He is one of three of the artists who spoke about their work at an opening reception on Saturday.
“When I was in college, I did drafting, now it’s all computerized,” he said. “We didn’t have computers in college, it was slide rule. They didn’t even let us use hand (held) calculators for the exams.”
LaRochelle builds on some of those drafting skills used in college in his artwork. He takes phtotographs of structures he finds of interest, and first makes a sketch of a structure before creating a painting.
Artist Sandrine Curtiss, whose work was also on display, said she likes to experiment with different mediums and techniques.
“I spend a lot of time, maybe too much time, on Youtube,” watching tutorials from other artists, she said. One of her pieces in the show, a colorful sketch of a gumball machine, was created using colored pencils on sand paper typically used for pastel painting.
Lisa Roderick of Ogunquit, a painter who works in both oil and water color, is also showing her work in the exhibit. She said she’s always been a creative person, and began painting in 2010.
She said she finds a lot of joy in painting. One of her pieces in the exhibit, is of an oil painting of a dory at sunrise in the winter.
Since she began painting, Roderick said, she has looked at light and shadows in a different way. Shadows aren’t always gray or black, she said, noting the blues and lavender shadows in her painting,
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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