BANGOR – Portrait artist Paula Dougherty favors painting the very young and very old because “they seem freer. The young are innocent and the old let go of a lot,” explained Dougherty, who has been painting portraits for 40 years.

Dougherty lives in the seaside town of Brooklin, where she paints, teaches art and works with the elderly as a companion, demonstrating her connection with people at that stage of life.

“It is my passion to see if I can capture the elders of the town,” she said.

Her subjects are enthusiastic. A portrait featuring Rocky, 90, the father of a friend of Dougherty’s, got a tremendous kick out of his image being used on a postcard announcing Dougherty’s “Portrait Retrospective” exhibit, which opened Jan. 3 at the Eastern Maine Community College Library Gallery.

“Portrait Retrospective” demonstrates the progression of Dougherty’s work in pastels, oils and watercolor.

Exhibiting extensively in public and private collections in Maine and New Jersey, primarily, Doughtery studied at The Art Center of Northern New Jersey, The School of Visual Arts in New York City and The Art Institute of Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Dougherty’s “Portrait Retrospective” is on display in the Library Gallery through Feb. 28.

The Eastern Maine Community College Library Gallery Art Series will finish the 2006-07 school year with a student-faculty-staff art exhibit during March and April, then an exhibition by local artist Paul Thibodeau during May and June.

Call the EMCC Library at 974-4640 for hours of operation.