Landscape artist Deliece Blanchard wasn’t really prepared for the solitude she found when she came to Gloucester for a stint as an artist in residence, but she quickly grew to appreciate the impact it made on her art.

“Just to be alone with your thoughts, without any other influences, is very valuable,” she said. “It’s a very meaningful opportunity.”

A Lynchburg resident and former music teacher, Blanchard was participating in the Artists in Residency program offered by Arts on Main, which afforded her the opportunity to stay for three weeks in a small cottage on the grounds of Goshen, the estate of Adrienne Ryder-Cook Joseph. The artist said she hadn’t watched television or talked to her friends or posted anything on Facebook during the 10 days she has been in Gloucester thus far.

“It’s a bit challenging,” she said, “but it’s so nice to feel like I’m just doing this to experiment—kind of like a k...