The artist shot a photo of her sister, Leona, who stopped to pick up a feather on a beach before a family wedding in California, and then painted “A Beautiful Day on Oxnard Beach” in oils.
                                 Submitted photo

The artist shot a photo of her sister, Leona, who stopped to pick up a feather on a beach before a family wedding in California, and then painted “A Beautiful Day on Oxnard Beach” in oils.

Submitted photo

Show will be July 8 - Aug. 5 at Widmann Gallery

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<p>Describing herself as admirer of clouds, artist Lois Pluskey saw one that was heart-shaped and incorporated the image into a portrait in charcoal of her granddaughter, titled “Sweet Dreams, Mia, You Are Loved.”</p>
                                 <p>Submitted photo</p>

Describing herself as admirer of clouds, artist Lois Pluskey saw one that was heart-shaped and incorporated the image into a portrait in charcoal of her granddaughter, titled “Sweet Dreams, Mia, You Are Loved.”

Submitted photo

<p>Lois Pluskey’s charcoal rendering titled ‘Airplane Mode’ features her son, Jason, surrounded by paper airplanes. ‘I was thinking about pushing paper and longing to be free,’ the artist said.</p>
                                 <p>Submitted photo</p>

Lois Pluskey’s charcoal rendering titled ‘Airplane Mode’ features her son, Jason, surrounded by paper airplanes. ‘I was thinking about pushing paper and longing to be free,’ the artist said.

Submitted photo

<p>Lois Pluskey poses before a self portrait that received a Best in Show designation from the Wyoming Valley Art League. Her work will be on display at the Widmann Gallery on the King’s College campus July 8 through Aug. 5.</p>
                                 <p>Submitted photo</p>

Lois Pluskey poses before a self portrait that received a Best in Show designation from the Wyoming Valley Art League. Her work will be on display at the Widmann Gallery on the King’s College campus July 8 through Aug. 5.

Submitted photo

<p>Lois Pluskey poses in her Plains Township home near one of her favorite pieces, the view from a car in which she was a passenger.</p>
                                 <p>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader</p>

Lois Pluskey poses in her Plains Township home near one of her favorite pieces, the view from a car in which she was a passenger.

Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

<p>Lois Pluskey gazes at one of her works in progress.</p>
                                 <p>Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader</p>

Lois Pluskey gazes at one of her works in progress.

Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

<p>Lois Pluskey was inspired to paint this image when she spotted a rabbit that encountered a small snow figure. She later used it as a holiday greeting card.</p>
                                 <p>Submitted photo</p>

Lois Pluskey was inspired to paint this image when she spotted a rabbit that encountered a small snow figure. She later used it as a holiday greeting card.

Submitted photo

<p>‘When Sheep Can’t Sleep’ is the artist’s charcoal and pastel drawing of a stuffed animal toy that suggests a sheep might want to count humans in order to drift off.</p>

‘When Sheep Can’t Sleep’ is the artist’s charcoal and pastel drawing of a stuffed animal toy that suggests a sheep might want to count humans in order to drift off.

He’s wearing a button-down shirt and a tie, like thousands of other office workers. But the young man in the portrait is also surrounded by about a dozen paper airplanes in flight.

What does the picture symbolize?

“I don’t know what was in his head,” Plains Township artist Lois Pluskey said of the photographer friend who created the composite image of her son Jason. “But I was thinking about pushing paper and longing to be free.”

Pluskey re-created “Airplane Mode” in charcoal and King’s College is using the striking image to announce an exhibit that will showcase her artwork in the college’s Widmann Gallery, starting July 8.

In a way, the piece offers a hint as to why Pluskey, 66, is so happy to be retired. Now she has the time to devote to art, the way she always wanted.

“I gave up drawing 41 years ago to start a family,” she said, making the statement matter-of-factly rather than with an air of sacrifice.

It was the practical thing to do, she believed, as was taking a job as a graphics designer.

But now, with her kids grown and her office job in the rear-view mirror, Pluskey has been following her heart — and expressing it — through images both realistic and fanciful.

“My motto is that the creative adult has an inner child’s curiosity, wonder and thirst for learning that has survived,” she said.

In the spirit of a curious, wonder-filled child — who loves nature and likes to gaze up at the sky — Pluskey noticed a heart-shaped cloud and incorporated it into a charcoal rendering of her sleeping granddaughter. She calls that one “Sweet Dreams, Mia, You Are Loved.”

She shot a photo of her sister, Leona, who stopped to pick up a feather on a beach before a nephew’s wedding in California, and then painted “A Beautiful Day on Oxnard Beach” in oils.

And she created “When Sheep Can’t Sleep,” a charcoal and pastel drawing of a stuffed animal toy that suggests a sheep might want to count humans in order to drift off.

Those are just a few examples of what you’re likely to see at Pluskey’s show.

The artist has been honored in many ways, among them: her self portrait was named “Best of Show” by the Wyoming Valley Art League; “Sweet Dreams Mia” was selected for the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists Artistic Celebration of Motherhood Competition 2021 and “Airplane Mode” was selected to appear in Strokes of Genius 12 Best of Drawing Competition publication, 2020.

“When Sheep Can’t Sleep” was a finalist in the International Art Renewal Center 15th annual Salon 2021 and also won an Honorable Mention for The Pastel 100 sponsored by Artists Network.

“My little sheep made it into The Pastel Journal Magazine,” Pluskey said with a smile.

In recent years her work has been on display with the work of other artists; this is the first time Pluskey has had a solo exhibit since her senior year at Wilkes University, in 1978.

“I was written up in The Beacon,” she remembered.

Pluskey, who grew up in Levittown and spent summers in the Poconos and Blakeslee, started her college years at Philadelphia College of Art, then finished at Wilkes and later earned a Web Master’s Certificate from Penn State. In recent years she has studied with Atelier Joel Carson Jones, whom she described as “a living master.”

Grateful for his guidance, she remembers feeling perplexed as she painted a self-portrait in which she appears to be in a reflective mood. “People told me I looked too sad; they wanted me to look happier. I was thinking about changing it, and Joel said, ‘No, this will be your best work.’ “

That’s the piece that garnered a Best in Show designation from the Wyoming Valley Art League.

“I’m loving that I’m still learning,” Pluskey said. “And I love the whole freedom I have to express myself.”

The free exhibit runs July 8 through Aug. 5 and will be open during normal gallery hours, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. An opening reception will be held 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. July 8. For more info, contact widmanngallery@kings.edu or 570-208-5898.

Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT