Fundraiser Artists by the Sea will take place July 11 and 12

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ST. ANDREWS - Watercolour artist Morgan Walsh says the first time she participated in Artists by the Sea she was so nervous she hid in a spot where no one would find her.

Going into her fifth year of the event she plans to set up in downtown St. Andrews so she can talk to the visitors and brag about the great cause she is painting for.

Artists by the Sea will take place on July 11 and 12 in St. Andrews for Hospice of Charlotte.

Karen Ouellette, executive director of Hospice of Charlotte, said 45 artists from across New Brunswick and Maine will travel to St. Andrews, set up in a visible place and create art in front of passersby. The works can be bought on the spot or at an auction which takes place throughout the two days.

Fifty per cent of the proceeds of each painting go to the Hospice of Charlotte, which supports the terminally ill and their families. In the last four years, the event has raised $40,000 for the charitable organization.

Oullette said the organization, which is funded by community donations and run by volunteers, provides emotional, social and spiritual bereavement support, driving services, meal preparation, and care-giver respite, among other things.

"The biggest demand for our services is for caregiver respite. We will go into a home or a long-term care facility and sit with someone who is dying so they are not alone," said Ouellette. "It is amazing, for anybody who has ever experienced the journey of the end of life, having somebody there who is familiar with death. The impact is huge."

Walsh said since she started participating in the event, she has grown as an artist. Before she was afraid to paint in the public and now she said she can "go out on the sidewalk and paint without batting an eyelid."

She said St. Andrews is a wonderful place to hold the event because there are so many beautiful spots and Pasamaquoddy Bay has such amazing tides that she can paint something in the morning and by the afternoon the same spot has transformed into a completely new painting.

She said she has had wonderful experiences painting by the sea. Once, someone followed her back to the auction to buy a painting of a building their son owned, and another time someone bought her painting on the spot to send to her son in Bosnia of an area where he used to live.

"As a rule I don't paint outdoors because I don't like flies or heat and I like to have my coffee and bathroom near by," said Walsh.

But painting outdoors is a sacrifice she said she is willing to make because it gives her the opportunity to explain to people what Hospice is and the amazing things they do for people.

For more information, call 465-0800.