NJ County Fair 2023

 Art in Sussex County, our local group that runs the art show for Sussex County residents has set "TOYS" as the theme for invited members.  At first I found this daunting as I was stuck in a play and games perspective until I ultimately arrived at the objects, toys themselves.   Thanks to my wife I found her trove of toys gathered for our grandchildren's play and set about to feature them in my paintings.  The first is a gathering I call "Friends" featuring Sponge Bob but also echoing a perennial favorite, the Teddy Bear.  What a great range of emotions, from Patrick's manic glee, Puss in Boots smugness, Squidward's melancholy to Teddy's affectionate embrace.

Sponge Bob and Friends

A second entry has more of a Victorian era feel to it.  I propped our young straw hatted lady friend in the rocking chair and placed the infant doll in the young girl's arm.  I also thought that the doll house over her right shoulder echoed the "toys" theme pretty well.

Rocking chair girls.

A few other paintings for the Little Gallery.  The first is a plein air I did at Millbrook Village a recreated colonial village,  Recreated here means, I think,  the buildings are authentic but have been moved to this site to create what a village looked at in that time.

Spandenburg cabin

Another intriguing  building is this cabin deep inside Stokes State Forest.  It is located near a lake and swimming area/.  I caught in in Autumn.

Cabin in Stokes State Forest

I have also been painting some farm animals since the fair is mainly agricultural.

Guernsey cow.

 

Mules

Bull (Akayushi)

 

Spring

 This spring the Sussex County Art Society renewed our do-your-own-thing sessions where members paint or draw and share critiques with others.  In preparation for the County Fair where the theme for the art show is TOYS  JW brought in a unique teddy bear which I used and fashioned an office scene.

The Professor

In the plein air mode I once again tackled the white clapboard Presbyterian Church in town.  With some studio work and a critique at our spring picnic  I reduced the foliage so that the church caught the eye more strikingly.  The goal was to capture the vertical and joyful thrust of the steeple in tension with the horizontal angle of the trees pointing toward the grave yard.  Heavy stuff!

Also on the agenda was preparing some works for "The Little Gallery" at the upcoming Sussex County (and NJ State) Fair this summer.  I chanced on some photos of sailing/racing boats and thought a group of them would make an appealing splash.

Sails 1

Sails 2

Sails 3

Sails 4

 

Winter in Florida

• Once again I spent few weeks n Florida for the chance to play golf and paint.   I hooked up with plein  air painter Shawn Del Joyce who works outdoors from October thru March in the Pinellas county (Tampa)  area.  This first effort was tasked to put birds in the picture so I tried to capture some small ducks in this marshy area across from a boat launch in the background.

Weaver Park near Dunedin

The second outing was under the causeway of the Clearwater access.  It serves as a fishing pier.  I captured a service building and some palm trees that reminded me of Winslow Homer's Florida paintings.  I also added some birds, but those atop the building could use more definition.

 

                                                          Clearwater Fishing Pier

I looked for some attractive barns, but was disappointed that most were not appealing ( mostly flat open rectangles, I assume because of the high temps) and paled in comparison to those in the Northeast  where we are rich with such structures.  Nonetheless I found one horse barn that served well enough.

                                                         Horse barn Pasco county

While driving around the area just sight seeing we stopped for some lunch at an outdoor restaurant where we had great grouper sandwiches.

Lastly I found a photo that reminded my host of the scenic area and older vacation homes on the Cotee river.  This was once a retreat for Hollywood stars and famous golfers in the 1920s..  I did a rendering of that photo and left it as a gift.

                                               Reminder of New Port Richey's Cotee river.