She is an artist, and she likes to work hard. Combine the two characteristics, and there is Jerri Finch, a longtime presence on the Maine art scene, and a bold one. She breaks ground, literally, and on her canvas. These days, her canvases proliferate under the soft allure of oil paints. She has found her groove in her studio, working through the winter, mixing colors, experimenting with light and angles, watching the fall landscape drop into winter, and then push back toward spring.

It’s a meditative time, and productive time. And then comes summer.

You won’t find Finch in her studio, then. She will be in downtown Belfast by the harbor, at her gallery, talking with visitors. She likes this aspect of being an artist, as well. Hours are set aside from June until September to connect with people who appreciate art. That feeds her soul almost as much as standing behind the easel in the dead of January.

“I really like knowing who bought my paintings,” she said. “As well as watching my paintings find homes within minutes of the gallery, last summer I shipped work across the country north, south, east and west.”

For almost two decades, Finch filled the walls of corporate offices, private estates and high-end galleries with her large air-brushed fabric paintings. They are beautiful – expansive, fluid, full of life, color and perspective. That was her signature work and many knew her name by it.

“That was serious, professional work,” said Finch. It was intricate and technically demanding. She did it for 17 years, succeeding as an artist in a profession where few ever manage to make a living wage. She raised her daughter with what she earned, and those in Midcoast Maine easily recognized her work.

Go to a gallery opening, or an office lucky enough to hang her art, and you’d likely nod to your friend, “that’s a Jerri Finch.”

But, her shoulders got tired, and even though she wore a mask to protect against the acrylic fumes, her lungs suffered.

So, she shifted gears, and as she said, “in a major way.”

“Because I wanted to feel my paintbrush,” she said. “I wanted to enjoy the process.”

Finch is now painting with oils, on traditional canvas and she shows her work at the Finch Gallery in Belfast, near the public landing.

Her personal statement is this: “I paint what is around me; yet, my biggest interest is in the elements of the painting. Temperature, value, color, light and subject. Those are my choices. Canvas, three tubes of oil, and a brush. Those are my tools. Once my palette is mixed, I work wet on wet; each brushstroke has its own voice, each dab of paint placed against another, its own meaning.”

Finch got her start with the New Jersey art scene in the 1970s. She studied in Trenton, bronze sculpting and life drawing at Philadelphia College of Art, and then traveled to Montclair State College in California. Eventually, Maine, which she has called home for 35 years.

The Finch Gallery is a little red gallery with plenty of character. Her husband, John Holmes, owns Consumers Fuel. In the 1960s, his grandfather built a mechanic’s shed, and it was used for various purposes, most recently as a repository for recycling material. Then, it was hauled down to the waterfront and now it sits, behind Consumers Fuel, overlooking one of the most pleasant, and vital, local scenes — the Belfast waterfront.

This is what inspires Finch these days. Life itself, in all of its colors, motion and texture.

“It’s just life,” she said. “You have a choice every day of how you want to view it. I try to really see the beauty in it. I have always wanted to give my viewers a toehold in reality, and then move them to the next dimension.”

Notice the collection of paintbrushes in her studio, and it becomes apparent just how particular Finch is with each stroke of color.

She has a large body of work, and she said, “I am excited to share it.”

This season, Finch is opening her gallery to include the work of sculptor Jay Hoagland, as well. Hoagland, of Rockland, formerly taught art in the Belfast school system.

“I fell in love with his work, and am very happy that he will be displaying it at the gallery this summer,” she said.

“By the time warm winds play on Penobscot Bay, the gallery—banners flying —opens it's doors to summer and another season of welcoming new and old friends to a dynamic selection of signature oils, original greeting card posters and archival prints,” said Finch.

The Finch Gallery, at 16 Main Street, in Belfast, is open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 23 to mid-September.