Local artist a top finisher in national painting contest

JoAnn Boyer with the painting that earned her a spot on Prismacolor's annual calendar. Westborough - JoAnn Boyer saw the e-mail in her inbox with words in the subject line that said, "Congratulations, you have won …," and she very nearly hit the delete button.

When she read further, she was not only glad she hadn't deleted the message but elated at the news it contained.

That news informed Boyer, an artist and longtime Westborough resident, that a painting she had submitted to an online contest had won third place, out of more than 1,200 entries, and that the painting would be featured in an upcoming calendar.

"I submitted it so long ago that I had forgotten about it," Boyer said, "so when I saw the e-mail I thought it was junk. When I read it and learned that I was being notified that I was a winner, I was completely flabbergasted."

The contest was run by Prismacolor, a company that manufactures products used by artists. Boyer's work will not only be featured in the company's 2009 calendar, but a print of the painting will hang in a gallery located in the company's headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill.

"It's crazy. I decided to enter on a lark," Boyer said. "I've studied art forever and been involved in it in one way or another for years. When I read the e-mail and realized it was the real deal I had to call the contact and ask her what picture I had submitted because it had been so long since I submitted it that I had forgotten what painting I had submitted."

The work that Boyer submitted was of a grove of trees with a dirt path running through it.

"The grove is on my sisterin law's brother's horse farm in Pennsylvania," Boyer explained. "It's the most beautiful place I've ever been. I was very taken by it."

Boyer said she originally created the picture as a gift for her relatives and as a way of forever capturing the time that she spent there with her family.

"I did this particular scene in a kind of painterly way," said Boyer, who works almost exclusively in pastels, "a way that would make you think it was an oil painting. I was very happy with the outcome, so I decided to submit it."

Boyer, who has worked part-time at the Community Advocate newspaper for more than 25 years as a graphic artist, had her passion for painting rekindled when she recently moved to Cape Cod.

"I have taken art classes for years all over the place," Boyer said. "At the Worcester Art Museum School, back when that existed, and also on the Cape.

Up until recently Boyer had never been serious about her painting, pulling out her paints only occasionally at the request of a family member or to cover up a spot on the wall.

"I got more focused and serious about my painting in the last few years," Boyer said. "I entered a few things in local shows around the Cape and earned some honorable mention awards, which I was very happy with because the competition on the Cape is pretty stiff . There are some fine, very accomplished artists on the Cape."

Known as an artist community, the Cape has prompted Boyer to return to more serious painting.

"Being on the Cape really stimulates your desire," Boyer said. "It a very stimulating environment for all artists. It's very much an art-loving community down here."