Lucinda Hamilton picked up a beginner watercolor set in early 2020 after watching online tutorials. Four years later, her oil paintings of Walden Pond, Rockport, and family moments hang in the Munroe Gallery at the Concord Free Public Library.

Hamilton's solo exhibition, "Summer Memories," is on view through Thursday, July 30, at the library's Main Library, 129 Main St. Admission is free during regular library hours.

The show features oil paintings completed over the past year, along with smaller studies and early watercolors that trace how individual works developed before reaching the final canvas. Subjects range from New England coastline at Perkins Cove to the Sonoran Desert landscapes Hamilton remembers from childhood summers visiting grandparents in Tucson, Arizona.

Several canvases draw from deeply personal photographs. One depicts the garden outside her parents' Pennsylvania home. Another shows her parents from behind during the final garden tour they shared.

"There's a lot of nostalgia in my painting that's very personal," Hamilton told The Concord Bridge. "It's also just trying to capture moments in time."

Hamilton, who lives in Dracut and works full-time in consumer electronics, paints during evenings and spare moments. She grew up in a creative family where her mother quilted and her father worked wood. She considered her sister the "actual artist" and spent years sewing before turning to paint.

After her daughter was born, Hamilton switched from watercolor to oils. The slower-drying medium suited life with a young child because she could step away when motherhood demanded it and return to a canvas days later without losing the work.

Her paintings have appeared in juried exhibitions with the New England Watercolor Society, Newburyport Art Association, and Rockport Art Association, according to the library's exhibition listing.

The exhibition opened July 6, with a public reception July 11.

How to visit: Munroe Gallery, Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main St., Concord. Free admission during regular library hours through Thursday, July 30. More of Hamilton's work is available at lucindahamilton.com.