An artist can find inspiration anywhere. For Margot Wizansky, looking her dinner in the face lead to a whole series of paintings now on display at the Mattapoisett Library.

The majority of Wizansky’s exhibit showcases oil paintings of barnyard animals and pets.

“I started doing pet portraits a few years ago when we were about to purchase a lamb that was raised in Vermont,” said Wizansky, a Mattapoisett resident.

The lamb was to be food for Wizansky and her husband David.

“We went to visit the lambs and I thought they were such extraordinary creatures, the way they look you in the eye. I wanted to do a painting that would honor them,” she said.

The artist’s lamb portrait led to other oil paintings of cows, chickens, horses, and pigs.

“It’s hard to put into words, but there is something very compelling about them,” said Wizansky. “I’m not really a dog person or a cat person, but there’s something about their being that comes through in their eyes.”

Finding art around her comes naturally for Wizansky.

“My parents met at a life drawing class,” she said.

Wizansky grew up with a brush in her hand and surrounded by art at home.

“I’ve been painting all my life,” she said.

In addition to painting, Wizansky works in stained glass and pottery mosaics. She is also a published poet.

In their day job, the painting poet and her husband are social workers who create housing for developmentally disabled adults.

“It’s a little bit easier surviving than as an artist. It’s impossible to make a living as a poet,” she said.

Even so, Wizansky said she has dedicated more time to her art in recent years.

“My husband had a studio built for me. Now, I don’t have to clean up every night,” said Wizansky. “I’m often working on a painting in my studio, but I also have a poem in my head.”

Wizansky’s paintings, including landscapes of Mattapoisett, will be on display at the Mattapoisett Library through January. The public is invited to a reception on Saturday, January 12, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Wizansky is also donating the proceeds from two posters of her artwork to the Friends of the Library.