It would be cliché to use the term "pretty as a picture," but the cliché will ring true Saturday at Lititz Springs Park.

The bucolic park, with its old-growth shade trees and famous stone-lined water channel, will host the 44th annual Lititz Outdoor Art Show from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 31. The event is expected to draw more than 200 amateur and professional artists to Lititz Springs' halcyon environs, which would not be out of place in Georges Seurat's painting "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."

Artist Sandy Roland, who will be among the exhibitors, agrees.

"It's a treasure," Roland said of the park.

Roland, 63, who works in watercolors and acrylics, will be joining artists from a wide range of media, including woodcarving, pottery and metalwork.

Her own work is known throughout Lancaster County. Roland helped guide young people to paint a Noah's Ark mural at Lititz Moravian Church, where she serves as superintendent for the children's Sunday School program, and her depictions of Italy adorn Lombardo's Italian-American Restaurant in Lancaster.

"I paint what I like, and I paint to please myself," Roland said, summarizing her artistic philosophy.

"I kind of promised myself when I got out of college that I would paint what I want, instead of pleasing everyone else."

Today, that could mean anything from landscapes to florals to still lifes. While one of her paintings depicts George Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge, the next might be a still life composed of Lititz food staples: pretzels and Wilbur Buds.

Roland's interest in art goes back to childhood, when she first picked up a pencil. Her first formal art class, in oils, came at age 12 at the Lancaster County Art Association.

"In high school, I got into pastels. Then in college, I had to try all these different things," including some media — for example, printmaking — that Roland didn't care for. Hence her mantra to create works to please herself.

She put some of that into her 14-year career as an instructor of first-, third- and fourth-graders at Lititz Elementary School. "We had great bulletin boards," she said proudly.

A longtime veteran of the Village Art Association of Lititz, which sponsors the Outdoor Art Show, Roland remembers when the show used to line the sidewalks in town. Nowadays, the artwork is displayed in a more professional manner, often under tents.

"It's wonderful in the park," she said.

Admission to the Lititz Outdoor Art Show in Lititz Springs Park is free. The event will be held rain or shine. For more information, call chairwoman Bridey Durkin at 371-4768 or visit to lititzart.com.