HOLDEN – In the quiet hills of Eddington, you can hear the faint sound of a paintbrush on a blank canvas against the background chatter of birds and squirrels at Tim and Thea Flanagan’s studio. These two artists paint together every day at their home-based studio, producing images of Maine wildlife and people.

The Maine Audubon Society will feature some of the Flanagans’ recent works from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 25, at the Fields Pond Nature Center. The Earth Day reception marks the first Art Show Opening at the Nature Center. The Flanagans’ artistic impressions of Maine nature and Maine farm scenes perfectly express the past and present of the Curran Farm and the Maine Audubon Society’s Nature Center in Holden.

Tim Flanagan has recently finished a series of landscape paintings that incorporate the universal work of farming, using the image of an old hay rake in the foreground, against different settings. This series captures the differences and similarities of farming in various landscapes.

In his travels, Tim has taken photographs, sketched pictures, and written notes about scenes and places that meant something special to him. The juxtaposition between something common, like the hay rake, in new and different settings gives Tim’s works the power to takes viewers to the field, where they can feel the wind blowing on their cheeks and smell the sweet hay.

Thea Flanagan, who may be best known for winning the Maine State Duck Stamp contest in 1990, works directly across from Tim in their studio. While he creates panoramic landscapes, Thea’s richly textured paintings focus on waterfowl. She loves watching the birds interact with one another and their environment. Her intense feeling for the birds glows through her paintings.