“You never know how touching getting a card is.”
That’s how Maine artist Sandy Crabtree feels about holiday cards.
“There’s something very personal about sending a Christmas card. I still receive cards from my family and out of state friends.”
Her paintings have been featured on Pine Tree Society’s holiday cards more than a dozen times. She is a noted children’s book illustrator and a longtime Bath resident who taught at Morse High School for nearly 30 years.
“I was an art teacher and I had many students over the years who went to Pine Tree Camp in the summer,” she recalled. “I could see how much it meant to them and the difference it made in their lives.”
This year, she was inspired to donate a painting to Pine Tree Society to feature on a 2024 holiday card.
“It just felt like the right time,” she said. “I wanted to help Pine Tree Society raise money and show my support for the hard-working families who live and work here.”
A consistent theme runs throughout Crabtree’s artwork: a caring for people and places that celebrate the human spirit.
Her painting “December Cove” features a cove she loves in West Point.
“It’s a cove in West Point at the end of the peninsula near Sebasco,” she noted. “It can be reached by a rugged little road that goes down over a hill. It’s such a pretty area and you can buy fresh lobsters right off the wharf.”
She’s been there countless times in the summer and it was a new experience to drive the winding road and walk the little path in the wintertime to take photos and capture the feel for what the cove looks like in the winter season.
She loves how Pine Tree Society’s holiday cards feature Maine scenes.
The Maine coast means a lot to her and she feels a deep connection to the lobster industry.
“Lobster boats and the coast are symbolic of Maine,” she said. “I’m glad Pine Tree Society keeps this tradition going.”
Preorder your holiday cards today. Shipping will begin the week of September 23.
Pine Tree Society holiday cards can be ordered online, by calling 207-443-3341 or visiting 149 Front Street in Bath.