Framed oil painting

26 x 30 (image size), oil on board

Museum merit award winner!

An Award Winner ~ from the Artist’s Collection!

Recently, I was at one of my exhibits and a fellow artist who was unfamiliar with my work said, “Take me to the painting you feel best shows your talent.”  

It was an unusual request, one that I found interesting.  He didn’t ask me which was my favorite, rather, which represents my abilities most.  

One of the paintings I am most proud of, that I feel best represents my artistic abilities is The Schooner J. & E. Riggin. In 2005, I entered it into a Maritime museum exhibit at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, Oregon where it won a Merit Award at their 12th Annual Maritime Art exhibit.  

Ever since, we’ve had it in our personal art collection. I feel it is one of my best Maritime works.  It embodies all that I know as a painter!  

Here is what I wrote about it in my journal on August 2013: “I spent countless hours dappling the blue sky with various tiny dots of color, eventually creating a sense of depth to the atmosphere. The white clouds have subtle transitions of shading from light to dark and the richness of the blue sky allows the clouds to really pop. I’m pleased too with the way the water has movement, reflective light and a range of colors that help in identifying the various planes of water. But most importantly, an enormous amount of time went into a realistic portrayal of the J. & E. down to the smallest degree.  When I photographed it I was lucky to have excellent lighting, which created nice cast shadows on the deck. It is one of those paintings that I never get tired of looking at, not because I painted it, but because I’m transported back to that moment when I was cruising alongside the black beauty.

The Schooner J. & E. Riggin will be entered into another exhibit, this time at the Two Rivers Country Club in Governor’s Land.  It will be featured in my Birds and Boats by Beebe exhibit and will now be available for purchase. I am looking forward to having 20 of my Maritime and Shorebird paintings on display for the next 2 months.