Paintings of Germaine Lemieux in Colebrook

The Colebrook Historical Society will be showing the artwork of Germaine Lemieux of Colebrook on Saturdays and Sundays from 2-4 p.m. through the month of August.

Germaine began her painting career at a very young age, creating "works of art" on her mother’s discarded oilcloth shades. A child in love with the outdoors, hiking and playing in the back woods of her parents’ Barkhamsted property, she began a love affair with the beautiful countryside of Connecticut’s northwestern hills. Her oil paintings are scenes of local areas, most of which are done on site.

Although art has always played a large part in her life, Germaine began seriously studying painting in oils and pastels with renowned teacher and painter William Schultz of Lenox. In 1970 she was employed by Hitchcock Chair Co. in Riverton, where she began a career as a designer of stencils for production line furniture and of limited and special edition series of collector chairs. Germaine continued to pursue her career in art as a freelance graphic artist and by creating hand-painted country and seaport scenes on reproduction pine cupboards as well as a variety of other types of decorative art, including trompe l’oeil, floral motifs and faux finishes.

A life-long dream finally became a reality when Germaine renovated an adjoining shed to her 1850 mill house, moved her painting and art equipment into it and officially christened it "Windmill Studio."

Many of Germaine’s art works are in private collections throughout the United States and Europe. Her painted furniture has been sold from New York’s finest furniture galleries and from specialty shops throughout the country.