“I’m not a portrait painter,” says Donna Pomponio. “What I am trying to do is get under the forehead and into the psychology of the person — to peel back, so that what you are painting is a life.” Pomponio is most inspired by faces that tell the story of a life being lived fully. That sort of life, she feels, is more possible in Provincetown than anywhere else. Her paintings celebrate “the freedom we have here to be who we are,” she says. Her show, “Free to Be,” is on view at the Provincetown Commons through Sunday, Oct. 17.

Though Pomponio, 68, has known loss, she exudes joy as she sits in the Commons studio that she shares with three other artists. “We can’t change tragedy and trauma, but we can use it to connect,” she says. “When you have lived as much life as I have, there is an unspoken connectedness with people you meet who have stories.”