Skylands show

     I was pleased to have two paintings selected for the show this spring.  The show opens May 7, 2016 at the Sussex County Arts and Heritage gallery on Spring Street in Newton.   I call this one Surfcasters.

Local eateries

       Not much snow this winter and the usual scenes were hard to find.  I did get out and caught views of two of my frequented eateries.  Il Porto on the Lake Mohawk boardwalk is a  view dominated by greys, blues and a little purple.  It still evokes a happy invitation to good eating.  Up in Lafayette the Millside Café

is a great place for lunch or breakfast.   I meet with a group of retirees there every other month.

Christmas market

    Once again I worked at the German Christmas market, but at Shelter Gift shop.  I had to work outdoors and it was bitter cold on my hands.  And the paints got sluggish due to the temps.  Nevertheless, I got started on a view of the action.  I had to finish this one in my studio.

 

My Christmas card this year was also of the market, this time with shoppers gathered around the boardwalk tree.

 

Juried shows

     This painting of the Manasquan Station was entered in the annual juried show of the New Jersey Watercolor society.  Didn't make the cut.  But I liked the early morning air of ennui as commuters wait for the train.

 

       And I reverted to the calligraphic style for my entry into the American Watercolor Society annual juried show.  Also a no go.  But I thought it had a chance.   Love the festive feel of the marchers, crowd and band-Sparta 4th of July.

 

 

Summer 2015

     The Sussex County Fair happens at the cusp of July and August.  This year I entered two paintings.  One was of Bales Mill falls.  The other was of a barn on Garrison Rd. in Hampton township, just north of Newton.  I reconfigured the road and surroundings so that the barn was set in an earlier time, before the road was paved.  I also added an old farmer walking the dirt road with a cane to reinforce the time frame.  Wondered if he was overdoing it?

Sterling Edwards workshop

     I drove down to Allentown in July to take a workshop with Sterling Edwards Sterlingedwards.com This was a great chance to practice his take on painting negative space as well as his use of bristle hair glazing and blending brushes.  He has a few short videos on YouTube that caught my interest.  It gave me a chance to work on some house portraits that I had been commissioned to do.  Sterling was a great help.

 

This Queen Anne style house is set in a woodsy site and was done in a plein air style, with just a very little after painting at the workshop.  I like the fresh feel and looseness of the brushwork.

March 2015

        The Sussex County Watercolor Society meets the second Thursday of most months in the Community Center in Hampton township, just off Halsey road.  I did a demonstration in March.  the paining was of the Paulinskill river and the Bales mill dam just north of the two bridges.