Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Artist in Residence - Storm Buoy day

Will be painting in the window again today, on the agenda is my Storm Buoy series... What are Storm Buoys, you ask? I started painting on buoys years and years ago when seeking painting surfaces. Being from a seashore community, I considered and tried painting on abandoned lobster pot buoys that had washed ashore during storms, hence the name, Storm Buoys! They had charachter - they were ripped and scraped, and barnacled....I started painting boat portraits on them, and have been selling stock designs and custom boat portraits on them for ages. I have exhibited them at the Greenport Maritime Festival in Greenport, the Long Island Seafood Festival at the West Sayville Maritime Museum, and the Apple Festival in Sayville, and a few others. Now I sell them here at my gift shop, the Seafarer Gift Shop, in Sayville.

Monday, March 8, 2010

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE! PAINTING NAUTICAL GIFTS & SOUVENIRS

Well, now that the kids are in kindergarten I can paint in the store! I did on occasion, but there was always a toddler on my lap trying to "steer" away the paint brush, so with twin toddlers in the store with me and customers I wasn't too productive during the day with projects, and at night there was never enough hours at my home studio... I have now set myself up painting in the front window of the store during the day, and it's creating some interest for walkers and traffic passing by - what's she doing in the Seafarer Gift Shop window?

I've been painting custom pictures and signs professionally for over 18 years, in addition to murals and faux finishes in homes.

What was I painting today? Today I was working on some wooden town signs, always popular! I have two for "Sayville" and one for "Blue Point" in the works over a seascape, and a series of wooden magnets in a miniature style of my famous Storm Buoys.