Two artists whose work can currently be seen at the Dublin Community Center have been fairly peripatetic when it comes to seeking subjects for their work.

Susan Wadsworth of Rindge and Lauron Lewis of Peterborough have meandered the state and the globe to capture various scenes in their art, and each has a room dedicated to that work at the DubHub. Lewis works exclusively with water colors, while Wadsworth prefers pastels.

“With pastels, I’ll go over a part of one patch perhaps 20 times, after which, a subject can actually change color from what I started it as,” Wadsworth explained to guests at Friday’s opening reception.

Wadsworth honed her craft with a magna cum laude degree from Colby, an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a master’s in art history from Tufts. It was in graduate school that a fellow student suggested she try working with pastels. She taught in the humanities department at Fitchburg State for over two decades, and more recently, her travels have informed her art. 

“In 2019 I went to Japan, where I did a lot of work with pastels,” she said, gesturing to a fluid depiction of a garden in Kyoto, the ancient capital, on a wall. Another work, “Magical Spring,” actually incorporates the Chinese character for tree -- which is used in Japanese – into her work featuring trees on a hillside. Her travels on water have allowed her to capture the wake of her ship trailing into infinity as created from the deck in “Oceantis- Stern View.” 

“I try to create a sense of peace, especially in this divisive time,” she said. Other locations of her work include Lake Temagami in Ontario and scenes of the American southwest. Of the Grand Canyon, she wrote “I would urge anyone and everyone who is lucky enough to get to this marvelous canyon to try to draw it, even if only for 10 to 15 minutes.”

Wadsworth founded the Fall Foliage Art Tour in Rindge, which is distinct from the Art Walk in October. Owing to the prominence of that event, she encourages any artists in towns not contiguous to Peterborough and Dublin to reach out to her and join this offering. 

Lewis’ journey as an artist began under a Christmas tree.

“Eight years ago, my wife gave me a water color set as a present,” said the Peterborough resident, who refers to the medium as “elegant but unforgiving.” 

“Early in our marriage I had tried my hand at illustrating a children's book that I wrote, but hadn't drawn anything in more than 25 years,” he wrote.

He’s partial to landscapes, because “I like to depict something that’s real,” he said, but he’s not above adding a humorous touch here and there. One image of a turbulent stream on display in Dublin has a fisherman about to lose his balance and join his prey. Another shows a canoeist upstream from a waterfall in a scenario that can’t end well.

“Echo Sunrise” and “Frozen Surrey Bridge” depict scenes in the Granite State in different seasons, but “Camden Harbor” and “In the Tube” take the viewer to the sea, the latter suggesting a scene from the original “Hawaii Five-O” credits.

“I like to see how far my eye can go into an image, and I love vibrant colors,” said Lewis.

A work he drew attention to in Dublin is a smaller painting done during COVID. “Angry Surf” shows nature clawing at the rocks below a house under a dark sky, braced against the wind that is having its way with nearby trees. The storm and sea provide a metaphor for the reality that had been unleashed.

“I wanted to express how nasty the world was at the time,” he said.

Lewis’ creativity is not limited to water colors.

“I like to think of myself as a soldier of the arts. My music work is under the pseudonym of Lex Ventura and is widely available on Soundcloud, Beatport and other platforms,” he stated.

Wadworth’s and Lewis’ works are on display at the Dublin Community Center through July 2.