Last night's First Friday Art Walk was enhanced by a festive holiday atmosphere. The air was brisk, the sky was clear, and the streets of Portland were illuminated with thousands of colorful lights, ringing in the holiday season.

"Growing Tall," by Colin Page

My first stop was Jameson Gallery, who was hosting an exhibition of oils by Colin Page, and the Drawing Room's 3rd Annual Small Works Exhibit. I was impressed by Page's delicate renderings of boathouses, grassy meadows, and even pizza slices. Reminiscent of impressionist paintings, Page's works are snapshots of life.

"Slices," by Colin Page

The Drawing Room's small works exhibit, "Gathering," brought together over 50 disparate artists who each created a 2- or 3-D work that measures 6x9 or 9x6 inches. The range of styles and media are very interesting, and I enjoyed seeing how so many different artists could come together to create dynamic art following the same theme.

"Portrait of a Rabbit," by Alex Sax

Whitney Art Works felt like the place to be, as it was one of the busiest galleries I visited. Local band Subject Bias provided us with great live music as we perused the new exhibition, "December," which included such artists as Allison Cooke Brown, Alex Sax, Rebecca FitzPatrick, Aaron T Stephan, Yeshe Parks, and more.

"Sea Captain," by Lydia Badger

The exhibition is a "whimsical medley of witty, provocative, and dynamic works." I thought that the mix of artwork was engaging and intriguing. I particularly enjoyed a series of comic-style etchings that depicted famous works of art by Old Masters, such as "The Lacemaker" by Jan Vermeer, and "The Death of Marat" by Jacques Louis David. Allison Cooke Brown's "Domestic Collages" were beautiful small works, composed of scraps of fabric delicately sewn together. Rebecca FitzPatrick's watercolors of injured animals were colorful and whimsical, at odds with the somewhat sad imagery.

"Out There: The Mediated Landscape," at the Institute for Contemporary Art at MECA was a faculty show with a more focused theme, featuring four artists. Gail Spaien showed an installation of botanical watercolors, dried flowers in plexiglas boxes hung on the wall, and amaryllis plants arranged neatly in rows. Her work is always intriguing to me, and this installation was no exception. I find the most fascinating aspect of her work is the feeling that I am stumbling upon the notes and specimens of an 18th century botanist. Yet at the same time, the paintings and floral installations are inherently modern and significant.

Philip Brou's "The Way We Were," was comprised of many colored pencil and gouache portraits of everyone in the artist's high school senior class, placed in a tornado chamber. The little faces swirling around the chamber in a frenzy of color was mesmerizing, and also very poignant.

The mixed media collages of Maureen Mullarkey and Mildred Johnson, at the adjacent June Fitzpatrick Gallery, were also favorites from the evening. They provided an interesting counterpoint to the sensuous curves and smooth surfaces of pottery by Paul Heroux and Sequoia Miller.