FARMINGTON — SugarWood Gallery, 248 Broadway, will welcome Francine Bitting as September’s Artist of the Month with an open-house reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5. Bitting’s work will remain on exhibit and available for sale during the month of September.

Francine Erbe Bitting was born and raised in Delaware County, Pa., and received her B.F.A. in illustration and painting at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia.

When she was younger, her family always vacationed in Maine, and many of her earlier works were scenes of mid- and coastal Maine. “This is where my love for art began. I was always enchanted by the scenery and charmed by the people. Whenever I needed inspiration or a sense of serenity, I would always visit Maine,” she said.

Now living in Wilton, Bitting feels she has finally come home to her artistic roots.

After college, Bitting moved to Brigantine, N.J., where she met her husband, Kevin, and worked for the Brigantine Press and Atlantic City Magazine. She also did numerous shows on the East Coast and accumulated many awards for her illustrations and paintings. 

In 1983, along with 49 artists from the U.S., Bitting exhibited five pieces of her work in Le Salon De Nations in Paris, France.

While raising her two sons in the early 1980s, Bitting was drawn into art education due to the lack of available art instruction within the Catholic school system. For 28 years, in three local parochial schools, she satisfied a need to work with and inspire children in all mediums of art.

Between 2000 and 2004, Bitting did a series of 12 paintings from the movie “Lord Of The Rings.” It was a tribute to her husband, who passed away in 1999, and their mutual love of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings.

From this group of paintings, Peter Jackson owns two. Sean Austin owns one and two were sold to private collectors.

In 2006 Bitting retired from teaching and moved to Cape Cod and to Wilton in October of 2014.

SugarWood Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.