Monday, July 25, 2011

Shazza's Jersey Dune


Oh and by the way, I have been painting. I just haven't been sharing. For several reasons, the first being laziness. The second reason is photo software issues. The third being, paintings are always works in progress and not quite ready to share.

Anyway, I am currently working on four or five paintings. I am sharing this one because it didn't photograph too bad.

This painting was inspired by a photo my sister, "Shazza" shot on the Jersey shore near her home. We both grew up on the "Jersey shore". Please note it is not the Jersey Shore of Snooki. Our stomping grounds were about and hour and a half south of Seaside Heights. We locals were not so much into big hair, gold chains and spray tans. I was of the long straight hair, parted in the middle, T-shirt and landlubber jeans. Shoes were flip flops or nothing. I remember that the bellbottoms of the landlubbers were long enough that I could curl my toes into the excess material. Otherwise the Rent-a-cops would boot me off the boardwalk.

Anyway, Shazz has this incredible store and invited me to do a "sistah show" with her. She will be showing her incredible photography and I will show some paintings. I borrowed some of her outstanding photos for inspiration. I am not trying to copy her incredible photos verbatim, but I am trying to add some of my recollections of growing up at "the shore". It was a huge part of becoming me and even though I am currently landlocked, the ocean, the dunes, the marshes and the boardwalk will always be part of me. As this show will be at the shore, I felt it appropriate to paint along with that theme.

5 comments:

dive said...

Glorious, Neetzy. I love the composition and the shadow colours (in fact all the colours). Those spatters of light in the lower centre are awesome.
Chestnut palings and marram grass … that could have been painted right here. You know how similar our shorelines are (and our out of season resorts).
Shazza's new place looks great on FB. I hope you post lots of photos of the sisters' exhibition for those of us stuck on the wrong side of that beautifully painted ocean.

neetzy said...

Dive,

Thanks. I get a little "colour crazy". I did not know the names of the grasses, but they say "home" to me. Having grown up near the ocean I feel the need to paint it. I see so many bad ocean/beach/shore paintings. Too bad it's a six-hour flight from our shore to yours or we'd be stopping by for a pint on a weekly basis!

I can't wait to see Shazza's new store. I must give the compositional credit to her for this painting.

dive said...

Colour crazy is a great phrase.
I've been watching the evolution of Shazza's new store on FB and almost gagged at the sight of that awful semi-naked man doing his workout on the balcony right in front of her. Eww!
Other than that it looks great.

Maria said...

I also like the colors but I like Dive's spelling best...so I am just going to say that I love those "colours."

neetzy said...

Dive,

I must say "eww" to the semi-nekkid Jersey shore person. He must be a shoobie (tourist from PA).

Maria, I do think colour is superior to color in so many ways! My daughter used to spell it that way on her school essays to drive her teachers crazy. They would mark it as a misspelling and she would argue that it was the correct British spelling! I love fiesty daughters!