This year, Pine Tree Society went back to its expansive holiday card archive to offer a special, limited edition rerelease of customer favorites featuring beautiful paintings by two celebrated Maine artists: Sandy Crabtree of Bath and Marieluise Hutchinson of Cushing.

Crabtree’s paintings have been featured on Pine Tree Society’s holiday cards 11 times. She is a noted children’s book illustrator and a longtime Bath resident who taught at Morse High School for nearly 30 years.

“Pine Tree Society’s art collection is wonderful and I love being a part of it,” she said. “You never know how it strikes people’s hearts. The holiday cards evoke feelings of nostalgia for Maine as a place where you grew up or visited.”

Her painting “Pemaquid Lighthouse” is a captivating watercolor of a beloved Maine lighthouse amidst snow-covered rocks.  On a brisk, winter day, softly falling snow coats the landscape in large, white, peaceful flakes.

Cushing artist Marieluise Hutchinson’s paintings have been featured on Pine Tree Society’s holiday cards seven times.

“I call my work traditional realistic rural new England,” she said. “I love farmhouses with connected buildings and barns and village scenes with groups of houses. Winter scenes are my favorite things to paint. I like the warmth. Even though it’s cold, it’s a warm scene.”

Hutchinson is proud to paint what she loves to benefit worthy causes and it means a lot that her work can help Pine Tree Society fulfill it’s mission to serve Maine people with disabilities.

“Pine Tree Society does so much for adults and children alike and it’s an honor to use what I can do to help people,” she said.

Her painting captures a quintessential Maine farmhouse under a fresh blanket of snow.  This scene is based on a favorite setting in Wiscasset Village where the perfect snowman and classically lit evergreens adorn the house and barn.

One hundred percent of proceeds from annual holiday card sales support Pine Tree Society’s programs. For more 50 years, sales of these cards has raised over $3 million dollars to support and transform the lives of Maine people with disabilities.

Cards are available in two formats, folding and postcards, and each purchase has a very important purpose: to help Maine people with disabilities lead richer, more socially connected lives.

Holiday cards can be ordered online at www.pinetreesociety.org or by calling 207-443-3341.