Long Beach Island Plein Air Plus 2021

Another great summer in Long Beach Island, NJ! I found inspiration in the local businesses and the bay-didn’t make it to the shore once! The beaches there are really nice, but I don’t see the point of depicting something that looks like it could be a beach anywhere else.

When you’re in a Plein Air festival, it’s best if you can spend a night or two on location. 

 Bowkers’s Holiday and Melina were conveniently located 2 blocks from each other so I was able to catch enough of both spots at just the right time in the evening. Boost was my lead -off painting, and I liked it so much, I didn’t want to sell it. (but I did). It’s part of a Log Flume ride that was set free from its place in Casino Pier in Seaside Heights by Hurricane Sandy and washed up on Long Beach Island. It traveled 40 miles! My friend Brian restored it and it sits proudly at the entrance to his Holiday Snack Bar. Fishery Truck was painted on site, (lettering done in studio). Jude and Mike from the Fishery came to check out my work, and brought me a water! 

I also met the owner of the Melina, he’s very proud of his boat and what it’s capable of. I met his wife while I was painting Boost, told her the boat was next on my list-had no idea I was talking to the owners wife! Small World!

BOOST! Oil/Panel 9" X 12" Bowker Family Collection

Bowkers Holiday Oil/Panel 12” X 18” Bowker Family Collection

Fishery Truck Oil/Panel 10.5” X 10.5” Perotti Collection

Melina Oil/Panel 12” X 18”

Master Copies and Interpretations

Fantin-LaTour’s Roses and Lillies

So great that I was able to share some of the copy work I’ve done over the years! Copying from master artists is not about forgery for the sake of stealing and selling their work , it’s about learning the skills of those that came before you, and wanting to be as good as them.
Thank you Jennifer A. Thompson, PhD and Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts

Quarantine Quartet

For the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of being a visitor most weekends at Alyne’s Lake Sagamore, NY getaway. We sheltered in place there last March for three months before venturing back to NYC and Hoboken. It’s become my Studio North!

During the summer, we would have our Sunday breakfast on the porch, and would hear faint strains of chamber music. I decided to find the source of those bittersweet strains, and it turned out that there was a small group of musicians a couple of yards over. I was inspired by the setting to bring out my paint box and join them in creating art!
When I arrived, the sight of these musicians gathered under the long sheltering branch of the dogwood tree was a bit overwhelming to me! The painting above is the result-

They were very nice to me, and I hope my work returns the nice!

Painting on view in the gallery