NORTHBRIDGE — Most people, when driving around in their daily lives, going back and forth to work or doing errands, are usually too harried to really take notice of their surroundings. This is not the case, however, for the Blackstone Valley Plein Air Artists. They take the time to go outside into their communities and really concentrate on what they see. Then, using a variety of artistic techniques such as oils, pastels, and watercolor, they create sumptuous images.

The group is displaying some of its work in a new exhibit, “Beauty Beyond Our Doors,” at the Alternatives 1826 Brick Mill in Whitinsville. The show, which is free and open to the public, will run through the end of October.

Member Dorothy Downing said the group has been together about two years. She said most of the members first met as participants of the Rhode Island Watercolor Society, and decided to form their own local group, incorporating the discipline of “Plein Air,” which is the French term used to describe the style of painting outdoors, using natural light.

“We have no formal meetings and no dues,” Mrs. Downing said. “We just meet to paint, usually once a week, sometimes more.”

“And we try to go out year round, unless it’s really cold out,” another member, Kris Occhino, said.

Viewing the works of this group, it is quite apparent they are no weekend hobbyists. Indeed, they are quite serious about their art. Some of the paintings exhibited are beautiful watercolors, reminiscent of the Impressionist style. Other pieces, done with acrylics, seem so lifelike they almost pop off the canvas.

Many of the works are of different Blackstone Valley iconic images, such as the Blackstone River, the Mumford River Dam and Whittier Farm. There are also paintings of local orchards, ponds and flower gardens, easily showing the beauty that can often be overlooked in those everyday places that one might take for granted.

Artist Carol Frieswick said the exhibit is being sponsored in part by a grant from the Northbridge Cultural Council. Extending the spirit of community, 30 percent of the proceeds from any painting sold at the exhibit will be donated to the host facility, Alternatives.

The other artists participating in the show are Bill Griffiths, Destiny Green, Sue Dion, Jerry Assis, Wayne Peltier, and Frank Robertson.

For more information about the Blackstone Valley Plein Air Artists, contact Mrs. Downing at ddowning0371@aol.com.

Also on exhibit in the same gallery are several award-winning entries from a number of school children who participated in the 2009 Massachusetts Junior Duck Stamp Program. This program, sponsored by Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Massachusetts Wildlife Federation and Massachusetts Waterfowlers Inc., is an art-based curriculum designed to emphasize the importance of wetlands and waterfowl conservation. Student artists from throughout New England compete in the program each year, according to local art teacher Laura Cendella, who facilitated the exhibit. Several of the children she instructed in an Uxbridge program received an honorable mention in this year’s contest, she said.

“It’s a great way to get them thinking about nature while working on their art at the same time,” Ms. Cendella said.