ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST Carole Gourvellec

"My art is created with the delights of earth and light. It starts in deep places and curls up in your lap," Artist Carole Gourvellec of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, shares on her FaceBook page. &emsp;&emsp;She explains that she wants the light she feels to transfer into her art, saying, "my hope is that the fire in me lives in what I make for you." &emsp;&emsp;Gourvellec is a self-taught artist who has been making art since her childhood out of things no one would ever imagine using. She continues in that spirit with the mixed media pieces she now creates, painting backgrounds on fletch-cut boards and adorning them with three-dimensional sheep characters in whimsical scenarios. Sheep are shown in different seasons doing activities like skiing, sharing a boat ride, and riding jet skis. &emsp;&emsp;The "baby lost sheep" and "giggle sheep" scenes feature tiny sheep made with pussy willow bodies, wild rice legs, black bean eyes with added white paint for expressions, and bits of leather strips shaped into ears. She imagines stories about the sheep and shares them on her page. A biblical passage about a shepherd leaving a flock of 99 sheep to search for the one lost sheep gave rise to her "baby lost sheep" theme. &emsp;&emsp;"Each one of her pieces tells a story, and her 'giggle sheep' are sure to make you laugh," says fellow artist Laura Nailor. &emsp;&emsp;Chopped log chunks from her woodpile with woodpecker holes and other naturally made openings, in addition to drilled holes, are her inspiration for creating "hoot babies," tiny owls to inhabit the openings. Pussy willow bodies become little owls by giving them two matching seed bead eyes and tiny pine cone-tip beaks. The wood pieces they dwell in are then embellished with pine needles, cones, berries, and white paint to appear like snow. &emsp;&emsp;In addition, she paints on vintage farmhouse wood from 1804, preserving the original paint and adding acrylics to paint farm animals such as Clyde, the goat; Matt, the Sheep; and Violet, the cow. Wood shavings top Violet's head with extra hair, and Clyde has apple tree branches for horns and pine needles as a beard. &emsp;&emsp;Gourvellec has taught gymnastics since she was a 16-year-old and still does one day a week. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama; in the 1990s, she began painting small abstract art canvases, expressing feelings through these works. Following some difficult family losses leading up to 2010, she started to dabble in pillow and jewelry-making and poetry. &emsp;&emsp;"Carole is a woman of many talents. Her whimsical landscapes combine realistic detail with charming elements of collage, and her jewelry is elegant and unique, as well. Her charismatic farm animal portraits are my personal favorite," Nailor says. &emsp;&emsp;She initially named her business Pearl Tree Arts, combining her love of trees and pearls. An image on one of her pillow creations represents this. When she realized using her own name would help people identify her with her work more easily, she made the change. She says she enjoys using old things like handkerchiefs, buttons, and brooches to make her pillows sentimental and nostalgic. &emsp;&emsp;Gourvellec moved from Florida to Jaffrey after her husband passed away and her good friend, Elijah Domnall — who she met during her wide variety of Bible study and missionary experiences around the country — came to help in response to her loss. &emsp;&emsp;"He has this Scottish knight mentality about taking care of people who are hurt," Gourvellec notes. "He eventually invited me to come stay with him in his Jaffrey home, which had extra rooms," she explains. She now has her studio set up there. &emsp;&emsp;"I went from the beach to the tundra; I wasn't adapted to it," she says. &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;But she knew she was supposed to be here and, during her nearly five years in this community, feels welcome and at home. &emsp;&emsp;Gourvellec enjoys participating in the Monadnock Artists' Open Studio Tour every Columbus Day weekend. &emsp;&emsp;"I have met some beautiful people there," she says. "Just doing it is fun — making connections, having chit-chat, finding out what they're all about." &emsp;&emsp;She participates in Peterborough's First Friday events, displaying and selling her mixed media art, in addition to jewelry she makes. &emsp;&emsp;The themes for her art stem from her love of the woods and beach, her curiosity about how things work, and how the transitions in nature come out in breathtaking wonder. &emsp;&emsp;That wonder and her artistic inspiration and ability are areas she attributes to "the goodness of the one higher than me." &emsp;&emsp;Her dance and gymnastics experiences contribute to her artistic expression, as well. &emsp;&emsp;"There's nothing like feeling happy; I like to feel that when doing my work and hope that carries over for my customers," Gourvellec says. &emsp;&emsp;To see more of Carole Gourvellec's work visit www.facebook.com/carolegourvellecart/ and the Farm Directory (starting on page 67) of this issue.